NMDFC disbursed over Rs 2,347 cr concessional credit in 3 years for minorities: Government in LS
Published on Mar 12, 2025
By PTI

Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Kiren Rijiju in the Lok
Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Tuesday, March 11,
2025. (Sansad TV via PTI Photo)
- NEW DELHI — The National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation has
disbursed concessional credit to the tune of Rs 2,347.15 crore during the last
three years, thereby providing benefits to over 5.50 lakh eligible people from
minority communities, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
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- In a written reply to a question, Minority Affairs
Minister Kiren Rijiju said the NMDFC eligibility criteria for the dissemination
of concessional credit states that persons should belong to a notified national
minority, specifically Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis, and
Sikhs, as defined by the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.
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- The eligibility also states that a person should be
having an annual family income of up to Rs 3 lakh under Credit Line-1 and up to
Rs 8 lakh under Credit Line-2, according to the minister.
-
- Applicants are required to submit necessary documentation
to substantiate their fulfilment of the aforementioned eligibility criteria, he
said.
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- "There is a multi-level screening mechanism used by
respective State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) of NMDFC, encompassing document
verification, background checks, and site inspections, to rigorously ascertain
that credit support is effectively reaching genuine and deserving minority
entrepreneurs," he said.
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- Furthermore, the sanctioned amount is released through
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly into the KYC-authenticated accounts of
the beneficiaries, Rijiju said.
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- The National Minorities Development and Finance
Corporation (NMDFC) has disbursed concessional credit to the tune of Rs
2,347.15 crore during the last three years, thereby providing benefits to
5,50,939 beneficiaries from minority communities, he said.
-
- The NMDFC regularly engages independent third-party
agencies to conduct impact studies across the country, he said.
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- These studies are carried out to assess the impact of
NMDFC's schemes on targeted beneficiaries and evaluate the sustainability of
projects and units financed under its loan programs, with respect to
beneficiaries and units financed during the preceding two years.
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- As far as the NMDFC is concerned, it only implements
schemes such as Term Loans, Micro Finance, Education Loans, and the Virasat
Scheme to empower youth and women from minority communities by providing
concessional loans for educational purposes and self-employment income
generation ventures, Rijiju said.