Srinagar: Since demography of the country has changed therefore all the policies and programmes formulated in India or in J&K have to be done through the vision of youth. Mudra and Stand Up India are the two distinguishing schemes flagged by the Prime Minister Narender Modi to evidence the government’s political will for a massive transformation in the economic lives of millions of youth across the country.

This was stated by the MoS (Independent Charge) PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, Dr Jitender Singh, who was the Chief Guest on the occasion, shortly after inaugurating the Mudra Promotion Campaign in presence of State Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, Principal Secretary Finance (J&K) Navin Kumar Chawdhary and Convener SLBC and Chairman J&K Bank Parvez Ahmed here at SKICC Srinagar.

 “Job and placement are the two key words in the lives of millions of educated youth, therefore the schemes like Mudra Finance were inspired by the idea of employability rather than employment. Mudra like schemes reflect the sensitivity of the government towards the need for a behavioral shift that is required of the people to inculcate certain values for a sustainable progress. And we believe these schemes will usher a change in mindset of people in general from seeking employment to self-employment and then towards job-providing”, Dr Jitender said.

Meanwhile, picking up the example of a crying baby in the jam-packed SKICC auditorium to make his Mudra point, Finance Minister asked, “What could have been the compulsion of a mother carrying an infant to this gathering about Mudra promotion? This is the passion of entrepreneurship and domesticity that you have to do things which banks don’t recognize. It doesn’t get into the credit appraisal of the bank in what difficulties young entrepreneurs particularly women has to go through to qualify for a bank loan.”

“Schemes like Mudra are intended to sensitize banks to this particular aspect, that how banks will go out and try and restore this balance, because most failed entrepreneurs of this country particularly of this state fail not because of bad business model but due to social compulsions”, he added.

Providing a scenario of the credit in-put into the SME sector and its manufacturing out-put into economy, he asserted, “There are 26 million SME’s in India generating 45 percent of manufactured output and 40 percent of exports employing around 60 million people. However SME’s get only 8 percent of the total credit from banks. Their credit to GDP ratio is less than 3 percent.”

“The new thing which is making MUDRA a success is the fact that you are not trying to either subsidize it or giving it free. It leverages the current banking infrastructure and the technology. These two elements will not burden either the banks or the governments, yet generate traction in the system to support viable enterprises and lead to the access to credit”, he said.

Taking a dig at the bankers present on the occasion, Dr Haseeb Drabu said, “Banks need to realize that schemes like MUDRA initiated by the government is to cover the gaps left by bankers due to excessive focus on corporate lending. Banks need to introspect and see where they have failed and what they could’ve done to transform this economy.”

Earlier, J&K Bank Chairman & CEO Parvez Ahmed, who is also Convener SLBC, gave a detailed overview of the performance of the banks operating in the state regarding MUDRA Finance Scheme.

He said, “MUDRA is an ambitious project launched by the GOI in the year 2015 with an aim to address the various issues inhibiting the flow of credit to micro industrial units in a holistic manner. It targets to finance around 6 Crore entrepreneurs through banks, NBFC’s and other financial institutions and I am sure the scheme is envisaged to be the game changer on the micro economic landscape.”

Giving an overview of the performance of the banks in Mudra and other schemes, Parvez Ahmed said, “Registering 41 percent achievement in financial terms under the scheme, the banks in J&K have disbursed Rs 1003 Cr to 41000 beneficiaries against an annual target of 2433 Cr to 118000 beneficiaries.  Also a total of 20 lac PMJDY accounts have been opened in the state by all the banks with total deposit of Rs. 650 Crore. Out of these accounts, 17 lacs have been opened in rural areas of the state and 15 lac customers have been provided Rupay Cards also.”

“Under the crucial components of financial inclusion and credit linkage, banks are actively taking part in spreading financial awareness among the masses from FLCC’s and rural branches.  Besides providing vocational training and hand holding through RSETI’s, more than 40 thousand candidates have been imparted entrepreneurship development training  thought RSETI’s since inception out of which 60 percent candidates have settled either through bank or self-finance”, he added.

He also exhorted the agencies like UIDAI, SIDBI, NPCI and LIC to increase their footprint in the state and increase their presence in substantial manner.”

Executive President Vagesh Chander concluded the event with Vote of Thanks.

The function was also attended by DDC Srinagar Syed Abid Rashid, General Manager SBI Anil Malhotra, senior functionaries of the state and central government, J&K Bank Executive Presidents, Presidents, Vice-Presidents, officers of various banks, representatives of Insurance companies, other agencies and beneficiaries of Mudra Scheme.