PNB signs MoU with AIF for promoting micro finance

"The MoU aims to bring rickshaw pullers in the banking fold and take care of their financial needs for improvement of the standard of lives of their families," PNB Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakrabarty said in a statement.     

PNB would like to make this community a productive asset of the economy and connect them with the banking stream to enable them to benefit from the economic development of the country as well, he said.     

 

Loans would be for two kinds of projects, Rickshaw Sangh under which borrowing NGOs would in turn give loans to rickshaw pullers to own rickshaws, and the Rickshaw Enterprise Project under which drivers would be given rickshaws on rent by the borrowing NGO, the statement said.     

However, they would be encouraged to own the rickshaw ultimately. For this, the NGO would give a time frame in the credit proposal, it said.     

PNB had earlier partnered with AIF on three rickshaw projects, in Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow. The plan is to finance 10,000 rickshaw pullers in next two years and 1 lakh rickshaw pullers in next 5 years.