NABARD has launched its ‘anchor NGO’ scheme to initiate bank-SHG linkage for women. The Government of India initiative, conceived for the most backward districts of the country, was launched here on a pilot basis on Tuesday. Nagapattinam is the only district identified in the State under the scheme, and among 113 districts in the country.
Speaking to The Hindu , Suseela Chintala, AGM, NABARD, Chennai, said the novelty of the concept hinged on ‘incentivising’ the anchor NGO who will coordinate with its sub-NGOs to provide sustainable capacity building for nascent self-help groups and make them credit-worthy. “Most SHGs are provided with just the first dose of credit, and there is an issue of recovery with banks developing a cold feet.” Under this scheme, the anchor NGO will be incentivised for not just networking with the banks and SHGs, but also to train SHGs in business ventures and facilitate consistent loan recovery and repayment. The anchor NGO will have to walk the additional mile with the SHGs to guarantee their sustainability.
The scheme cannot function in isolation and needs the infrastructure provided by banks, existing NGOs and the government line departments, said D. Ganesh, AGM, NABARD.
The pilot project has been launched with a gestation period of five years to take back to the table the understandings for future expansion.
A dedicated Women’s SHG Fund has been set up to meet the capacity building for the staff of the participating branches. The scheme will be taken up in all 11 blocks with the formation of 2,443 SHGs. On Tuesday, the scheme was launched in Ayakaranpulam to initiate 401 SHGs into it.
N.P.Mohapatra, DGM, NABARD, said that the scheme offered ample business opportunity to banks and SHGs. “Banks derive their biggest source of revenue from current and savings accounts. More business through SHGs mean more opportunity for banks.”
