Four hours of bliss.....SBI SHG Bank loan Melawa at Aurangabad....

Four hours of bliss.....SBI SHG Bank loan Melawa at Aurangabad....

I was aboard a flight from Aurangabad to Mumbai after attending a SHG loan melava specially organised by the State Bank of India for SHG groups of MSRLM in Jalna and Aurangabad . The joy of having attended a well-organised event was on my mind. The satisfaction of facilitating clearance of 281 loan applications much more.
Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission- MSRLM Umed- works for the empowerment of women through self help groups. The first step towards it is by way of promoting inclusion of women into the mainstream of society by making them understand the importance of associating with groups. This is done through the special efforts made by Wardhinis who are trained external resource persons staying in the villages allocated to them for a fortnight to form SHGs. The ten cardinal principles or Dashasutri is explained to the women and they have to abide by the same. These include 5 financial aspects like regular meetings, savings, internal lending, repayment of loans and writing books of accounts. The remaining 5 are social aspects and include health, education, taking benefit of government schemes, participating in Panchayat Raj Institutions and sustainable livelihoods.
The next logical level is making the SHGs financially literate and educating them about various aspects of financial inclusion.
Those SHGs who follow the Dashasutri and meet regularly for 3 months are given a revolving fund of Rs.15,000/- . When the group continues to meet for 6 months they are given the CIF- Community Investment Fund of Rs.60,000/- . Both these amounts remain with the community institutions to be used by them. These amounts may appear little to some but create the foundation for bank linkages in future by inculcating the habits of saving, lending, repaying and writing books of accounts. They also demonstrate sufficiently that the groups are mature enough for bank linkages and also for creating confidence in the banking network.
As per RBI guidelines such SHGs under the NRLM fold are to be given three doses of loan for their enterprise. Targets are allocated annualy for the same and are regularly followed up. The central government also reimburses interest upto 7 percent for those SHGs who repay loans in time. The Government of Maharashtra has taken it further by bearing the remaining part of the interest on loan taken by SHGs who are on the NRLM portal. So effectively loans are available to NRLM compliant SHGs on the NRLM portal at zero percent interest.
Despite all these efforts accessing loans and finance for SHGs still remains a challenge.
It was therefore extremely encouraging when the State Bank of India, the leading public sector bank of the country decided to have a SHG loan Melava to expedite loans to SHGs of MSRLM in Aurangabad.
Due to various commitments, zeroing on the date was an issue for me as well as the bank officials. After several adjustments we decided to zero in on 24th August 2018 even though it would literally be a flying trip of 4 hours.
So after attending the State Level Bankers Commitee meeting where also I laid emphasis on the importance of financing SHGs, I zipped off to Aurangabad.
As I entered the venue I found almost 1000 women waiting in the beautifully decorated hall.
Much to my surprise, I was made to sit on a sofa at the entrance by the Regional Manager, Ms. Neelam Upadhyay I asked her what it was about. She told me that this was the tradition of Aurangabad. Very soon a khandaani pheta was tied on my head. This was for the first time I experienced such an honour. To me it symbolised the collective honour of all the women who had gathered there.
An exhibition of SHG products had also been arranged which we inagurated after lighting of the traditional lamp. Various products made by SHGs were on display there.
State Bank of India, has a historical legacy of 200 years. . It is almost like a father protecting his child. The SHG melava was an effort to expedite bank loans and out of 700 loan applications, 281 loan applications amounting above Rs.3 crores were cleared in 3 days to be disbursed in the Melava. Twelve SHGs were given certificates symbolically and the remaining certificates would be disbursed to the SHGs.
The highlight of the event was the launch of the Bhim- Aadhaar / SBI Aadhaar Pay by SBI, a digital payment acceptance solution which enables the SBI merchant or any other bank to accept payments for goods and services connecting his android phone to the fingerprint reader. The merchant has to download the app, register himself and seed his account with the bank. He has to procure a certified biometric reader with USB / USB C type connector. Actually the app is a small red device with a sensor for finger print verification. It can be carried with ease anywhere even in a small pouch due to its size
The aadhaar verification Bhim App Connector was given to 6 SHGs. This instrument could be linked to telephones like a mini pos machine. The women SHGs were also very excited to receive the same.
The response of the women SHGs and their affection was humungous in comparison to the efforts made by us to travel.
Four hours at the SBI SHG loan Melava were akin to experiencing the elixir of life. They were sheer bliss. The excitement and joy among the women was palpable.
SBI had paved the way and taken this positive step for facilitating SHG bank linkage. It would certainly be the harbinger of prosperity in the lives of almost 1000 women. Together with SBI, SHG women of MSRLM Umed would scale the heights of happiness.