Mahila Samruddhi Yojana — Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam

What is Mahila Samruddhi Yojana in Gujarat?

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana, sometimes written as Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, is the women's micro-credit line operated in Gujarat by the Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam (GSKVN), a corporation of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat. GSKVN acts as the state channelising agency of the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), New Delhi, and lends NSKFDC funds to safai kamdars and their dependants in Gujarat.

According to the corporation's Economic Prosperity page, micro-credit finance is given up to Rs 50,000 to develop income-generating activities in the form of small businesses, at a maximum interest of 5 per cent, and for women under Mahila Samruddhi Yojana the maximum interest is 4 per cent. The corporation also notes that this micro-credit may be routed through a non-governmental organisation.

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana sits within a family of NSKFDC direct-finance products that GSKVN operates in Gujarat, listed on its website as DF (direct finance), MCF (micro-credit finance) and MSY (Mahila Samruddhi Yojana). The larger lines include term loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for various projects, up to Rs 15 lakh for sanitation-related economic activity, bridge loans, working capital finance and education loans.

Key features

• Micro-credit of up to Rs 50,000 per woman beneficiary.
• Interest of not more than 4 per cent a year for women.
• No income ceiling to qualify.
• Repayment in equal monthly instalments over three years, beginning from the second month after the loan is received.
• Loans may be channelled through recognised non-governmental organisations in addition to direct lending.

Who is eligible for Mahila Samruddhi Yojana?

The corporation's "Who can get credit" page defines the target group for all its lending, and Mahila Samruddhi Yojana applies the women's rate within that group.

You can take this loan if:

• You are a safai kamdar, a person engaged full time or part time in manual removal of human excreta — or a dependant of one, identified either under the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) or in an official survey.
• You are a woman. The 4 per cent rate under Mahila Samruddhi Yojana is specific to women beneficiaries.
• You can produce a safai kamdar certificate from the authority prescribed for your area. For safai kamdars working in a municipal corporation area, this is an officer of the corporation not below gazetted rank; in a nagarpalika or notified area, the Chief Officer; in rural areas, the talati-cum-mantri's certificate countersigned by the Taluka Development Officer or Mamlatdar; for those in government offices, the head of office or an officer not below gazetted rank; and for safai kamdars employed by private hospitals, hotels, restaurants, housing societies or contractors, a certificate from the employer countersigned by the relevant gazetted revenue officer.
• You intend to run a small income-generating business.

Registered cooperative societies of safai kamdars, and statutory bodies or firms formed by the target group, are also eligible borrowers of the corporation, though not under the individual women's micro-credit line.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a safai kamdar or the dependant of one. No level of poverty makes a non-safai-kamdar applicant eligible under this corporation.
• You are a man. Male safai kamdars borrow under the corporation's general micro-credit finance line at up to 5 per cent, or under its term loan schemes.
• You cannot obtain the prescribed safai kamdar certificate from the authority for your area, or the certificate is not countersigned where the rules require it.
• Your application reaches the district office after the advertised closing date.

There is no income limit. The corporation states this plainly, and adds that where all other things are equal it gives preference to safai kamdars below the poverty line, women, persons who are infirm or disabled, educated unemployed people, and part-time safai kamdars.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Mahila Samruddhi Yojana in Gujarat

1. Watch for the corporation's advertisement. The Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam advertises in newspapers for each business or trade it is financing, and states the period within which applications will be accepted.
2. Collect and prepare the safai kamdar certificate for your area first. This is the single document that decides eligibility, and getting it countersigned by the right authority takes the longest.
3. Submit the application to the district office concerned within the advertised period, with the certificate, identity and residence proof, bank details and business plan attached. The corporation's scheme page directs applicants to the district office for this line.
4. Where the corporation has opened the scheme online, register and file on gskvnonline.gujarat.gov.in or through esamajkalyan.gujarat.gov.in, the Social Justice and Empowerment Department's common citizen portal, and upload the same documents.
5. Wait for scrutiny and sanction by the corporation. Loans are released to the beneficiary's own bank account.
6. Begin repayment from the second month after the loan is received, in equal monthly instalments over three years.

How much money is given and on what terms?

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana gives up to Rs 50,000 as micro-credit. Interest is capped at 4 per cent a year for women. Repayment of NSKFDC term loans, with interest, runs in equal fixed monthly instalments across three years, and the corporation states that repayment starts from the second month after the loan is received.

Women who need a larger amount than Rs 50,000 are not restricted to this line. The corporation's direct finance route lends up to Rs 5,00,000 for general projects and up to Rs 15,00,000 for sanitation-related economic activity at 6 per cent, with 90 per cent of the unit cost funded by NSKFDC and the remaining 10 per cent beneficiary contribution met by the Gujarat government. Under the state's Pujya Thakkarbapa Safai Kamdar Punah Sthapan Yojana, the government also provides margin money and a subsidy of at least Rs 10,000 and up to Rs 75,000, within the unit cost, to beneficiaries of that direct-finance route.

What can the loan be used for?

The corporation frames micro-credit as finance for developing income-generating activities in the form of small businesses. In practice this covers petty trade, tailoring and stitching work, small shops, vending, service work and similar self-employment that a woman can run from home or a small premises. GSKVN also runs allied schemes that beneficiaries often use alongside credit, including the Sanitary Mart scheme, the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), the Pujya Thakkarbapa housing scheme for safai kamdars and a personal accident insurance cover scheme.

Common reasons applications fail

• Safai kamdar certificate missing or wrongly issued. The certifying authority differs by area, and a certificate signed by the wrong officer, or not countersigned by the Taluka Development Officer, Mamlatdar or gazetted revenue officer where required, is the most common defect.
• Application filed outside the advertised window. Applications are accepted only during the period stated in the newspaper advertisement for that trade.
• Bank account details wrong or account not in the applicant's own name.
• Applicant is not covered by the survey or the SRMS identification, and no employer certificate has been produced in its place.

Help and grievance redressal

• Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam, Karmayogi Bhavan, Block No. 1, B-1 Wing, Sector 10/A, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382010.
• Phone: +91 79 23256745.
• Portals: gskvnonline.gujarat.gov.in and esamajkalyan.gujarat.gov.in, where application status can also be checked.
• District social welfare offices handle submissions and first-level queries.

The corporation's lending policies and guidelines, which it follows from NSKFDC, are published as a downloadable document on its website, and the Right to Information section carries the contacts for written grievances.