Exclusive schemes for Kerala
Women in Kerala are way ahead from rest of the country in literacy rates and education level. The state is quite progressive about development and empowerment of women. Women in the state are also taking a step forward in entrepreneurial ventures. According to The Economic Review, 2014, 25% of the 2, 34,251 working SSIs/MSMEs registered in Kerala were promoted by women. 3354 new enterprises were registered in the state by women during the year 2014.
Below are some incentives provided by the Kerala Government especially for women entrepreneurs:
- Entrepreneurship societies formed by girl students in colleges will be given grace marks of 5%.
- Some of the women entrepreneurs will receive free training and stipend.
- Financial assistance up to 80% of project cost will be given through bank loans.
- Advertisement tariff at Government rate will be made applicable for the advertisements of women managed ventures through media.
- 50% subsidy will be given for setting up stalls/advertisements in shopping festivals organized by Government / Quasi Government Institutions.
- Marketing of the products will be made easy through Government/ Quasi Government organisations
- Interest subvention scheme of State government for woman entrepreneurs – The total interest on loans availed from any scheduled bank up to a maximum of Rs.5 lakh per annum for three years by industrial units run by women employing not less than 50% of women in its work force, will be taken care of by the government.
Below are some schemes provided by the Kerala Government for aiding the women entrepreneurs in the State:
- Mahila Udyam Nidhi
It provides soft loan (Quasi equity) assistance to women entrepreneurs for setting up projects in Tiny Sectors. This scheme was launched by Small Industries Development Bank of -India (SIDBI) under small business funding programs. The institution is one of the most famous names of the government financial institutions. One can get a soft loan of up to 10 lakh rupees and this loan is repayable in 10 years.
https://udyamimitra.in/ - Mahila Vikas Nidhi
It provides Training and employment opportunities to women through creation of necessary infrastructure and also provides assistance for participating in State and District level exhibitions organized by State/ District Authorities/ Associations.
http://blog.ksidc.org/special-incentives-and-schemes-put-forth-by-kerala-government-for-boosting-women-entrepreneurship/ - Kerala State Women Development Corporation Limited(KSWDCL)
It was launched on the 22nd February, 1988 with the basic objective of creating more and more economic and social opportunities especially for women in the State. The main focus of the corporation is empowerment of women. This corporation works with a vision of empowering women of the state through providing various employment opportunities. The corporation has already disbursed 256 Crores among 28,918 beneficiaries. It has been conducting many job oriented training and development activities for women and girls who belong to BPL families.
http://kswdc.org/ - Kerala State Welfare Corporation for Forward Communities LTD
It is a Government of Kerala undertaking which was put forward under the Companies Act, 1956 on the 8th of November 2012. The only objective of the corporation is to promote comprehensive development and welfare of the economically backward sections among the forward communities. In order to fulfil this objective the Kerala Government provides assistance to their members for improving their educational status, living conditions, all round development and livelihood of economically backward sections. People from marginalised sections are encouraged to pursue professional courses, Graduate and Post Graduate courses and Technical courses by providing educational loans and scholarships.
http://www.kswcfc.org/ - Swarnima Scheme for women in backward classes
There are 2 schemes under this heading, one is the term loan and the other is the New Swarnima scheme for women. A term loan maximum up to Rs 2 lacs is given to women from backward classes for self employment. New Swarnima scheme is for women who belong below double the poverty line. Maximum loan limit under this scheme is Rs 1 lac and the rate of interest on amount of loan is less as compared to the general loan scheme of the Corporation.
http://nbcfdc.gov.in/en/new-swarnima-for-women - Mahila Samridhi Yojana
This scheme was started by Central Government (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) National Backward Class Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) in order to provide Micro-finance to women entrepreneurs of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Each beneficiary women would get maximum up to Rs 50,000 as loan for setting up their own business.
https://govinfo.me/mahila-samridhi-yojna/ - Kerala Financial Corporation
This corporation delivers micro-credit programme for Self Help Groups through various Micro Finance Institutions (MFI). The programme is running since five years and the programme is quite successful since last three years. It has helped around 3000 outreach poor members. The institution chooses clients irrespective of their class, creed and religion. Loan assistance per MFI for on-lending is subject to a minimum of Rs 10 lakh and maximum of Rs 5 Crore.
http://www.kfc.org/micro-finance.php
