MUDRA AN EXCITING INITIATIVE FOR NON CORPORATE SECTOR

ACTION COMMITTEE TO LAUNCH NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN

In a national conference of non- corporate sector held yesterday at New Delhi on prospects of “MUDRA” the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on April 8, 2015 at New Delhi, more than 200 leaders of leading Organizations of different stakeholders of non-corporate sector from all over the Country have termed “MUDRA” as a milestone in economic development of unincorporated sector in India. The Conference was held by the Action Committee for Formal Finance to this sector, the umbrella body representing hundreds of thousands of small businesses. The Action Committee has been strongly advocating the need for a separate financial architecture for small business since August 2014.

Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, National Coordinator of Action Committee informed that in a unanimous resolution adopted at the Conference it was said that “The PM has a large vision for MUDRA. He has challenged the banking sector that within a year, the banks will all be interested in lending to MUDRA, and increasing their participation in the small business sector of the country. This is hugely exciting since the flow of funds to this sector will increase manifold. Since it is a truly visionary step and will be a game-changer for the non- corporate small business sector of the Country, the Action Committee will soon launch a nationwide campaign to promote “MUDRA” in small business segment”. Under the campaign Conferences will be held in all States beginning with a Conference on 5^th May at Chennai. 

MUDRA has three levels of loans – below Rs 50,000, from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakhs and from Rs. 5 to 10 lakhs. Continued Khandelwal: “We know this is a good starting point. To fully cover the small business sector including the trucking sector, the loan size should be increased from 10 lakhs to 25 lakhs, and over time up to 50 lakhs. This will complete the MUDRA mandate and over time fulfill the requirements of small businesses, the real drivers of the economy.”  

Mr. B C Bhartia, National President of Confederation of All India Traders, a key constituent of the Action Committee, said: “MUDRApromises to be a unique institution. Instead of creating a new ecosystem, it promises to work in close partnership with the existing private finance companies, both micro-finance companies and other NBFCs catering to the sector. For the first time, it recognizes that small business finance is a separate category. And as a regulator for this sector, it will steer clear of unrealistic rules and thus help develop the sector. This is a major positive departure that we welcome.”    
MUDRA is expected to channel vast resources to the micro/small business sector and this will surely transform the economic well-being of millions of small people. “MUDRA is being created with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crs. Over time we expect this corpus to increase, through own funds and from market borrowings, to lakhs of crores. When that becomes reality, MUDRA would have fulfilled its goals of transforming the small business sector” said Khandelwal.