Self Employment Scheme - Goa

What is the Goa Self Employment Scheme?

Self Employment Scheme is the principal enterprise-credit scheme of the Goa State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation Ltd. (GSSTFDC Ltd.), Government of Goa. It provides financial support to an individual belonging to the Scheduled Tribes community to undertake any approved self-employment activity.

Goa's Scheduled Tribes; principally the Gawda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar communities; were notified relatively recently, in 2003, and the Corporation was set up to give those communities access to development finance on terms a commercial bank would not offer. The Self Employment Scheme is where that purpose is most visible: Rs 10,00,000 to an individual at 4% per annum on a reducing balance, repayable over up to 10 years, is credit no ST first-time entrepreneur in Goa would obtain in the open market.

The scheme is distinct from the Corporation's Short Term Loan Scheme, which lends up to Rs 1,00,000 at 2% for immediate education, medical and business expenses over 18 to 36 months. This scheme is about building a business, not bridging a bill.

How much does the scheme lend, and on what terms?

Two features deserve attention. First, interest is charged on a reducing balance, not on the flat original amount, which means the real cost falls steadily as the principal is repaid. Second, margin money of 10% is relaxable for individuals. An important concession, because the requirement to bring Rs 1,00,000 of one's own to a Rs 10,00,000 project would otherwise exclude exactly the applicants the Corporation exists to serve.

The compulsory life and business insurance is a protection as much as a condition. Where a borrower dies or the business asset is destroyed, the insurance compensation is adjusted against the outstanding loan rather than falling on the family or the guarantors.

Who is eligible for the Self Employment Scheme?

You can apply if you:

• Belong to the Scheduled Tribes community notified in Goa.
• Are unemployed.
• Are 55 years of age or below: relaxable in deserving cases.
• Have a family income not exceeding Rs 3.00 lakh per annum, relaxable on merit.
• Can produce a project report for the proposed self-employment activity.
• Can furnish two guarantors, one of whom is a government servant.

For income purposes, family is defined as the spouse, unmarried children, and dependent parents and siblings below 18 years of age. That definition matters when a young applicant lives in a large household: only the listed relations count towards the ceiling.

Group applicants — ST associations, societies, partnership firms, self-help groups and companies; are eligible for the higher ceiling of Rs 15,00,000.

You cannot apply if you:

• Do not belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Goa, or cannot produce a caste certificate from the competent authority.
• Are already employed. The scheme is for the unemployed seeking to create their own work.
• Are above 55 years, unless the Corporation relaxes the limit for a deserving case.
• Have a family income above Rs 3.00 lakh a year, unless relaxed on merit.
• Cannot furnish two guarantors, or cannot furnish one who is a government servant.
• Are unwilling to mortgage the business or to take the compulsory life and business insurance.
• Have no project. A loan request without a costed activity cannot be assessed.

Both the age limit and the income ceiling are expressly relaxable, which is unusual and useful. An applicant just outside either should make the case in writing at the time of filing rather than assume exclusion.

What documents do I need?

1. Application form, downloaded from the Goa UDP portal.
2. Two passport-size photographs.
3. Caste certificate: Scheduled Tribe, from the competent authority.
4. Income certificate.
5. Copy of the Aadhaar card.
6. Project report for the proposed activity.
7. Guarantor details and documents for two guarantors, one a government servant.

The project report is what the sanction turns on. It should set out the activity, where it will operate, the capital and working capital required, the expected monthly revenue and costs, and how the instalments will be met from the business's own cash flow rather than from other income.

How to apply for the Goa Self Employment Scheme

1. Obtain your caste certificate and income certificate from the competent authority. Nothing else moves without these.
2. Prepare the project report for the activity you intend to run, with a realistic costing and a repayment plan tied to the business's cash flow.
3. Arrange your two guarantors, confirming that one of them is a government servant and that both are willing to sign.
4. Log in to the Goa UDP portal and select the Self Employment Scheme from the offline schemes.
5. Download the application form, providing your mobile number, email address and district.
6. Complete the form and attach the two photographs, the caste and income certificates, the Aadhaar copy, the project report and the guarantor documents.
7. Submit the completed application to the Goa State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation Ltd., and collect an acknowledgement for follow-up.

How is the loan sanctioned and disbursed?

The application is assessed by the Corporation and the repayment period is determined by the Board based on the nature of the activity financed, a trading business with a fast cycle is not given the same term as a plantation or a construction of premises.

Before disbursement, the security has to be in place: the two guarantors, the mortgage of the business, and the compulsory life and business insurance. Margin money of 10% of the project cost is expected, subject to relaxation for individual applicants.

Interest runs at 4% per annum on the reducing balance. A default attracts 2% penal interest, and a default record with the Corporation is a serious matter, it affects the family's access to the Corporation's other schemes, since those schemes disqualify applicants with a default history against GSSTFDC, EDC, banks or other financial institutions.

Why do Self Employment Scheme applications get rejected?

• Caste certificate not from the competent authority, or not produced.
• Family income above Rs 3.00 lakh with no case made for relaxation.
• Applicant not unemployed, or already running an established business rather than proposing a new self-employment activity.
• Age above 55 without a relaxation request.
• Only one guarantor, or no guarantor who is a government servant.
• Project report thin; no costing, no revenue estimate, no repayment logic.
• Refusal or inability to mortgage the business or to take the compulsory insurance.
• Margin money not arranged and no relaxation sought.

Where do I complain?

Grievances go first to the Goa State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation Ltd., Government of Goa, which the scheme records at Shram Shakti Bhavan, 5th Floor, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001, with email dir-tw.goa@nic.in. The Corporation's own office address is recorded elsewhere as 2nd floor, Smruti Building, Swami Vivekanand Road, Altinho, Panaji, so confirm the current receiving office before travelling.

The Department of Tribal Welfare, Government of Goa is the escalation, and the Government of Goa's public grievance registration route at goaonline.gov.in is available beyond that.

Practical points

• Ask for the relaxations in writing. Both the 55-year age limit and the Rs 3.00 lakh income ceiling are expressly relaxable, and the 10% margin money is relaxable for individuals. None of these relaxations is automatic. They have to be sought, with reasons.
• Build the project report around cash flow, not around the ceiling. Asking for Rs 10,00,000 because it is available, on a business that generates Rs 20,000 a month, produces a rejection or an unpayable loan.
• Reducing balance is a real advantage. Prepaying when cash allows cuts the interest materially over a 10-year term.
• The insurance is not optional and not a formality. Keep the premiums current for the life of the loan; a lapsed policy is a breach of the sanction terms.
• If the need is smaller and immediate, the Corporation's Short Term Loan Scheme lends up to Rs 1,00,000 at 2% for education, medical and business expenses, with a lighter document burden and a much shorter tenure.