SME Times News Bureau | 25 May, 2018
Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and
Common Service Centres (CSC)
Thursday signed an MoU to
help Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs).
CSC
SPV and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed an
MoU for providing financial support to the Village Level
Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of Common Services Centers, with minimum one
year of operation, under the Direct Financing Window of SIDBI, an
official release said.
During
the meeting, Minister of Electronics & IT Ravi
Shankar Prasad said, “I am happy that SIDBI has come forward to
support CSCs across the country to promote rural entrepreneurship,
and with financial support new avenues of opportunities will
come up for CSCs.”
Praising
the efforts of CSCs in improving women’s health and hygiene through
Stree Swabhiman initiative, he said that, “CSCs are doing
outstanding work by providing low-cost sanitary napkins to girls and
women in rural India. There are 110 sanitary napkins manufacturing
units and till the end of this year each block will have one.”
Referring
DigiGaon Dhanaudi Kalan in Gautam Buddha Nagar, UP, Shri Ajay Prakash
Sawhney, Secretary, MEITY said that, “As CSCs across the country
have gained momentum, financial support by SIDBI will undoubtedly
create new opportunities for them.”
Dinesh
Kumar Tyagi CEO, CSC SPV asserted that, “Financial support by SIDBI
will in long run help upgrade the potential of existing CSCs along
with creating new opportunities to rural population.
Under
the Direct Financing Window, CSC SPV will approve the list of VLEs,
within 25 km distance of SIDBI Branch Offices, who require financial
support. To avail the loan, the VLEs need to submit their CSC
project, with maximum project outlay of Rs. 3.50 lakh and term loan
requirement not exceeding Rs. 2 lakh per project.
Through
the MoU, both CSC SPV and SIDBI seek to work together to bring more
citizens under the ambit of financial inclusion. Moreover, it
also seeks to enhance the financial viability of CSCs by including
additional services in their bouquet of products.
Pankaj
Kumar, Additional Secretary, MEITY, Shri Sanjay Goyal, CGM, SIDBI,
Ashok Kumar Pandey, General Manager, Direct Credit Vertical,
SIDBI, and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.