ICICI Bank, on Saturday, said it was targeting to more than double its cumulative disbursements to Rs.2,500 crore to women self help groups (SHGs) by the end of the next fiscal.
“We started lending to SHGs 30 months ago, and have disbursed around Rs.1,000 crore till now. We are targeting to take the cumulative disbursements under the programme to Rs.2,500 crore by March, 2015,” bank’s Managing Director and Chief Exective Chanda Kochhar said.
Over 70,000 SHGs across 164 districts in seven States had borrowed from the bank till now, which had directly helped one million women, she said, adding that the number of beneficiaries would rise to 2 million by the end of 2014-15.
ADVERTISEMENT
The bank lends at 14 per cent per annum to SHGs for one to three years, and the average ticket size of such loans is Rs.1.60 lakh.
It disbursed Rs.330 crore in 2012-13, which was expected to rise further to Rs.850 crore by the end of this fiscal, Mr. Kochhar said, announcing that the initiative would be rolled out in three new States in the next year.