The government is well on its way to reach the target of 10 crore Self Help Group members by 2024, Union Minister for Rural Development Giriraj Singh said on Thursday.
Mr. Singh said the number of members, which was just 2.35 crore when the BJP government came to power in May 2014, has now touched 9 crore.
He was addressing the media after the Ministry signed an MoU with Meesho – an e-commerce platform owned by Bengaluru-based Fashnear Technologies Private Limited, for marketing of products made by Self-Help Groups (SHG) under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihood Mission.
The government has set itself a target that every woman associated with SHGs should be able to earn ₹1 lakh per annum. However as of now, the target is far off its mark as only 20% of the nine crore beneficiaries fall in this bracket.
Mr. Singh added that tie-ups with e-commerce portals will bring in the market closer and help in enhancing the revenue. Stating that SHGs were in good financial health, he said their cumulative loan in 2014, which was ₹80,000 crore, has now crossed over ₹6.25 lakh crore but with non-performing assets (NPA) of just 2.08%. “We are working towards reducing the NPAs to less than 1%,” he added.
