SIDBI, CSC SPV ink MoU to provide financial support to village level entrepreneurs

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Common Service Centres (CSC) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) signed MoU for providing financial support village level entrepreneurs in CSCs. Through the MoU, SIDBI will extend financial support to VLEs of CSCs, with minimum one year of operation, under its Direct Financing Window.

Key Facts

Through the MoU, both CSC SPV and SIDBI seek to work together to bring more citizens under ambit of financial inclusion. Moreover, it will also aim to enhance financial viability of CSCs by including additional services in their bouquet of products.
Under Direct Financing Window, CSC SPV will approve list of VLEs, within 25 km distance of SIDBI Branch Offices, who require financial support. To avail loan, 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.

Common Service Centres (CSC)

CSC is an initiative of Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY). It is strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. It is pan-India network catering to regional, geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity of country, thus enabling Government’s mandate of a socially, financially and digitally inclusive society.
There are as many as 2.91 lakh CSCs operate in the country today. They are mostly ICT enabled front end service delivery points at village level for delivery of government and private services. These CSCs serve as access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, financial, healthcare, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

SIDBI is principal development financial institution for promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in India. It was established on April 2, 1990 through an Act of Parliament (thus, it is statutory body). It is headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It facilitates and strengthens credit flow to MSMEs and address both financial and developmental gaps in MSME eco-system across the country.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2018