Dalit assn asks mins to reduce loan interests to 2-4%

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Dalit Entrepreneurs Association (KDEA) on Saturday urged Union minister of state for micro, small and medium Enterprises Shobha Karandlaje and state industries minister MB Patil to reduce the rate of interest on loans given to Dalit community businessmen.
"Karnataka is giving term loans at a 4% rate of interest through the Karnataka State Financial Corporation.But it also gives term loans at 4% to general women. We have requested the state govt to reduce it to 2% or 0% up to Rs 2 crore for the community, and that is pending," said KDEA working president CG Srinivasan at the Dalit MSME Conclave held in the city.
Srinivasan said the MUDRA scheme and the Centre's Standup India scheme charge 8% and 7% rates of interest, respectively. "But when we're getting 4% through KSFC or commercial banks, no one will opt for MUDRA. We demand to bring it to 4% and to increase the MUDRA scheme coverage from its present Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh," he said.
Shobha shared her visit to the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) campus in Delhi, where skilling and upskilling programmes are held, and said there was a need for a similar facility in south India, particularly in Karnataka. She highlighted Peenya, home to 16,000 industries and Asia's largest MSME cluster where skilled workers are in demand, while proposing an NSIC campus in Bengaluru.