Mahila Samridhi Yojana (Maharashtra)

What is Mahila Samridhi Yojana in Maharashtra?

Mahila Samridhi Yojana is a self-employment finance scheme of the Social Justice & Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, implemented by Sant Rohidas Leather Industries and Charmakar Development Corporation Ltd, usually called LIDCOM. The corporation was established on 1 May 1974 for the social, economic and educational development of the Charmakar community, which in Maharashtra covers the Dhor, Chambhar, Holar and Mochi castes.

According to the LIDCOM scheme page, Mahila Samridhi Yojana is funded by the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), New Delhi, and channelled to beneficiaries through LIDCOM's district offices. The scheme exists because women of the Charmakar community have historically been shut out of commercial credit for petty trade, and a 4 percent loan with a capital subsidy makes a small business viable where a market-rate loan would not be.

How the Rs 1,40,000 is put together

The subsidy is the heart of the scheme. Because Rs 31,000 of the project never has to be repaid and the balance carries only 4 percent interest, the effective cost of capital for the woman is a fraction of what a moneylender or an unsecured personal loan would charge.

Who is eligible for Mahila Samridhi Yojana?

A woman can be sanctioned assistance if:

• She belongs to the Charmakar community, Dhor, Chambhar, Holar or Mochi, and holds a caste certificate from an authorised government officer.
• She is aged between 18 and 50 years.
• She is a permanent resident of Maharashtra.
• Her annual family income is below Rs 3,00,000, in both rural and urban areas, evidenced by an income certificate from an authorised government officer.
• She has working knowledge of the business for which the loan is sought. LIDCOM asks about this at the scrutiny stage, because a woman financed into a trade she does not understand usually defaults.

Priority within the eligible pool is given to widows, divorced women and destitute women of the Charmakar community.

The following are not eligible and cannot apply:

• Men, and women outside the Charmakar community, since the corporation's mandate is limited to that community.
• Women below 18 or above 50 years of age.
• Women whose family income exceeds Rs 3,00,000 a year.
• Women who are not permanently resident in Maharashtra.
• Applicants who are existing defaulters on a LIDCOM or NSFDC loan, or who have already been financed under another LIDCOM scheme for the same activity.

What documents are required for Mahila Samridhi Yojana?

Keep original certificates and two sets of self-attested photocopies. Income and caste certificates are the two that LIDCOM checks most closely, and an expired or out-of-district certificate is the commonest reason a file is returned.

How to apply for Mahila Samridhi Yojana

1. Locate the LIDCOM district office for your district. Every district in Maharashtra has one; the corporation's head office is at 45 Veer Nariman Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400001.
2. Collect the Mahila Samridhi Yojana application form from that district office. There is no online submission route, and forms are issued when the district office invites applications against its annual target.
3. Fill the form and attach the caste certificate, income certificate, age proof, residence proof, Aadhaar, bank passbook copy, photographs and your project note with quotations.
4. Submit the complete file at the district office within the period announced in the district's notice. Late or incomplete files are not carried to the selection committee.
5. Attend the scrutiny if called. The district manager checks the certificates and asks about your knowledge of the proposed trade.
6. Wait for the district selection committee to approve the case and forward it to NSFDC through LIDCOM's head office for release of funds.
7. Open or confirm the bank account into which the loan and subsidy are released, then buy the equipment or stock and start the activity.

How much is repaid and over what period?

Only the Rs 1,05,000 loan component is repaid, at 4 percent interest per year. The Rs 31,000 subsidy is a grant and is never recovered from a beneficiary who runs the activity as sanctioned. The Rs 4,000 own contribution is brought in by the woman herself at the time of disbursement.

LIDCOM fixes the repayment schedule at sanction, and instalments begin after the activity is set up. Because the exact repayment tenure and moratorium are settled case by case at the district office rather than published as a single rule on the scheme page, ask the district manager to record the number of instalments and the first due date in writing when the loan is sanctioned. Do not rely on a figure quoted by a middleman.

What can the money be used for?

Mahila Samridhi Yojana finances small and petty trade, business and other income-generating activities. In practice LIDCOM sanctions cases such as footwear and leather goods making and repair, a small retail or grocery outlet, tailoring and garment work, dairy or goat rearing, a tea or snack stall, and similar micro-enterprises. The common thread is that the woman herself works in the activity. The scheme is not meant to finance an asset that is then rented out or run by someone else.

Related LIDCOM schemes worth comparing

• Micro Credit Finance — up to Rs 50,000 at 5 percent interest with a Rs 10,000 subsidy, a smaller and quicker option than Mahila Samridhi Yojana.
• Term Loan Scheme, LIDCOM's larger NSFDC-funded loan, also requiring the income and caste certificates of an authorised government officer.
• Gattai Stall scheme, a fully subsidised cobbler's stall, for which active proof of working as a cobbler, such as a trade licence or gram panchayat certificate, is required.

A woman who cannot raise the Rs 4,000 own contribution for Mahila Samridhi Yojana is often better served by applying under Micro Credit Finance instead of dropping the application altogether.

Common reasons a Mahila Samridhi Yojana file is rejected

• Caste certificate not from an authorised officer, or issued in a form LIDCOM does not accept.
• Income certificate showing more than Rs 3,00,000, or an outdated certificate.
• Age outside 18 to 50 on the date of application.
• No demonstrable knowledge of the proposed business at scrutiny.
• Existing default on an earlier LIDCOM, NSFDC or bank loan.
• Incomplete file, a missing quotation or an unsigned annexure is enough for the file to be returned.
• District target exhausted for the year, in which case the file is held for the next cycle rather than rejected on merit.

Where to get help

• LIDCOM head office, 45 Veer Nariman Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400001 to 022-22044186, 022-22047157.
• LIDCOM district office for your district, which is the first point of contact for forms, status and grievances.
• Social Justice & Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, at sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in, which lists LIDCOM among its corporations.

No fee is payable to any agent for obtaining, filling or "getting approved" a Mahila Samridhi Yojana application. Forms are issued free at the district office.