Mahila Samruddhi Yojana — Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation

What is Mahila Samruddhi Yojana in Gujarat?

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana is the women's micro-credit scheme of the Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation (GBCDC), a corporation of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat. The corporation states the purpose in a single sentence: a small-credit scheme to create self-employment for women of the backward classes, under which the woman beneficiary runs a business of her own choosing.

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana is one of five economic-upliftment credit lines listed on the corporation's Economic Prosperity page, alongside Term Loan, New Swarnima, Micro Finance and Swayam Saksham. Among these, Mahila Samruddhi Yojana and New Swarnima are reserved for women. Mahila Samruddhi Yojana carries the lowest interest rate of the small-loan schemes at 4 per cent a year.

Key features

• Maximum individual loan of Rs 1,25,000.
• Interest of 4 per cent a year.
• 95 per cent of the unit cost is financed, with 95 per cent from the national corporation and 5 per cent from the Gujarat government.
• Repaid in 48 equal monthly instalments with interest.
• Money released by RTGS or NEFT into the beneficiary's own bank account.
• The beneficiary chooses her own trade; the scheme is not restricted to a prescribed activity list.

Funding for the corporation's lending comes from the state government together with the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC), New Delhi, and the size of each year's programme depends on the allocation released.

Who is eligible for Mahila Samruddhi Yojana?

A woman can take this loan if:

• She belongs to a socially and educationally backward class of Gujarat, the group the corporation calls Baxi Panch, with a caste certificate from a competent authority.
• Her family's total annual income does not exceed Rs 3,00,000, certified by a competent authority.
• Her age is 21 to 45 years on the date of application.
• She has experience in the business she proposes, where that business needs technical or other skills.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a man. Male applicants of the same community are directed to Micro Finance, Term Loan or Swayam Saksham instead.
• You do not belong to a listed socially and educationally backward class of Gujarat.
• Your family income is more than Rs 3,00,000 a year.
• You are younger than 21 or older than 45 on the date of application.
• You or a member of your family already holds an unpaid loan from this corporation or from another corporation of the Developing Castes Welfare wing. A person may borrow from only one such corporation, and only once.
• You cannot arrange the guarantors and the property charge that the sanctioned amount requires.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Mahila Samruddhi Yojana

1. Watch for the corporation's annual advertisement. The Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation opens applications in a notified window after the state government and NBCFDC release the year's funds.
2. Go to gbcdconline.gujarat.gov.in, the corporation's online loan portal, and register. The corporation's FAQ confirms that the loan application form is available online on this portal and nowhere else.
3. Choose Mahila Samruddhi Yojana as the scheme and complete the application with your personal details, caste and income certificate details, the business you intend to run, and your bank account details.
4. Upload scanned copies of the caste certificate, income certificate, age proof, Aadhaar card, ration card, experience certificate and bank passbook, then submit the form inside the notified window.
5. Await provisional approval from the Beneficiary Selection Committee, which sanctions applications on the basis of caste, the Rs 3 lakh income ceiling, business experience and the funds available.
6. On provisional approval, you are informed by post. Complete the loan documents, get guarantor affidavits notarised in the prescribed format, arrange the charge on the property, and post the papers to the corporation office in Gandhinagar; you do not need to travel there in person.
7. After the documents are accepted, the loan is transferred to your bank account by RTGS or NEFT.

How is the loan repaid?

Mahila Samruddhi Yojana loans are repaid in 48 equal monthly instalments including interest at 4 per cent a year. The first instalment falls due in the month after the loan reaches your account.

Instalments are deposited into the corporation's designated Bank of India account number 202010100020790, accepted at any Bank of India branch in Gujarat. The corporation issues each beneficiary a slip book for the deposits, and its website carries an online payment link as an alternative.

What security is required?

The corporation applies the same graded rule to all its loans:

• Up to Rs 30,000; self-guarantee.
• Up to Rs 1,00,000 — one guarantor.
• Above Rs 1,00,000, two guarantors.

A charge of one-and-a-half times the sanctioned amount must be registered in the corporation's name on one property of the borrower or a guarantor. Guarantors holding property must submit their documents notarised in the corporation's prescribed format. Since the ceiling here is Rs 1.25 lakh, sanctions near the ceiling need two guarantors.

Why applications are rejected, and how to fix them

• Income certificate above the Rs 3 lakh ceiling, or an out-of-date certificate. Get a fresh certificate from the mamlatdar before the window closes.
• Caste certificate not covering a listed backward class of Gujarat. Check the corporation's published list of castes on its website first.
• Age outside 21 to 45. The age is counted on the date of the application, not the date of sanction.
• Missing experience certificate where the proposed trade requires skill.
• Guarantor papers incomplete or not notarised, or a property on which the charge could not be entered.
• An existing corporation loan in your name or your family's name.
• Funds exhausted for the year, in which case an eligible application waits for the next cycle rather than being rejected on merit.

Applications are sorted district-wise into defect-free and defective lists before the selection committee sees them, so a missing document usually knocks a file out before the merits are considered.

What Mahila Samruddhi Yojana does not do

• It does not give a grant or subsidy. The corporation says so explicitly.
• It is not waived if the business fails, and it is not cancelled on the borrower's death.
• It is not available twice. One person receives a corporation loan once.

Help and grievance redressal

• Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation, Managing Director, 2nd Floor, Block No. 11, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar 382010.
• Phone: +91 79 23257559, with additional lines on 23257556, 23257557, 23257558, 23257560 and 23257561.
• Online portal: gbcdconline.gujarat.gov.in for application, status and instalment payment.
• Public Information Officer and RTI contacts are listed on the corporation's website for written grievances.

Applying is free. No agent or middleman can charge a woman a fee to get her name included in the corporation's beneficiary list.