NBCFDC General Loan Scheme

What is the NBCFDC General Loan Scheme?

The NBCFDC General Loan Scheme is a concessional credit programme run by the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC), a company under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. NBCFDC provides financial assistance for the economic development of people belonging to the Backward Classes who live below double the poverty line, and the General Loan Scheme is its main term-loan product for self-employment and income-generating ventures.

According to the NBCFDC portal, the scheme lends up to Rs 15 lakh per beneficiary for a wide range of activities. NBCFDC finances up to 85% of the project cost, while the remaining 15% is contributed by the channel partner or the beneficiary. NBCFDC does not lend to individuals directly. It channels money through State Channelising Agencies (SCAs), the Backward Classes finance corporations of each state, and through channel partners such as scheduled banks, Regional Rural Banks and microfinance institutions, who in turn appraise applications and disburse loans to borrowers.

Key features

• Maximum loan of Rs 15 lakh per beneficiary.
• Interest charged to the beneficiary at 6% to 8% per year, based on loan size.
• Repayment in quarterly instalments over a maximum of 8 years, with up to a six-month moratorium on principal.
• Covers agriculture and allied activities, small business, artisan and traditional occupations, transport, services, and technical or professional trades and courses.

Who is eligible for the NBCFDC General Loan Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Backward Class as notified by the Central Government or a State Government.
• Your annual family income does not exceed Rs 3 lakh from all sources.
• You have a viable income-generating activity, for example agriculture and allied work, a small business, an artisan or traditional occupation, a transport or service venture, or a technical or professional trade.
• You are of an age and standing acceptable to the lending channelising agency (age and residence norms are set locally).

You cannot apply if:

• You do not belong to a notified Backward Class, or you cannot produce a caste certificate.
• Your annual family income is above Rs 3 lakh.
• The purpose of the loan is not an eligible income-generating activity — the scheme is not a personal or consumption loan.
• You are a defaulter on an earlier NBCFDC or channelising-agency loan.

Because loans are routed through State Channelising Agencies and channel partners, each agency may add its own conditions on security, guarantors and residence. Confirm these with the SCA for your state before applying.

Interest rates and loan size

According to the NBCFDC General Loan flyer, the interest charged to the beneficiary is tiered by loan amount:

These are simple, concessional rates well below commercial lending rates, which is the core benefit of borrowing through NBCFDC rather than a bank on market terms.

What documents are required for the NBCFDC General Loan Scheme?

How to apply for the NBCFDC General Loan Scheme

NBCFDC works through State Channelising Agencies and channel partners, so the application is made offline at the agency level, not on a central portal.

1. Identify the State Channelising Agency (SCA) for your state, usually the State Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation; or an NBCFDC channel partner bank, RRB or MFI operating in your district. The list of SCAs and channel partners is available on nbcfdc.gov.in.
2. Obtain the loan application form from the SCA or channel partner and fill it in with your personal details and the details of your proposed activity.
3. Attach the caste certificate, income certificate, Aadhaar, project report and bank passbook, and any security documents the agency asks for.
4. Submit the completed application to the SCA or channel partner, which will appraise the proposal for viability.
5. On sanction, the agency disburses the loan and gives you the repayment schedule of quarterly instalments over up to 8 years.

For queries, NBCFDC operates a toll-free helpline on 18001023399.

How the money reaches you

NBCFDC releases funds to the State Channelising Agency or channel partner, which adds its share and lends to you. Repayments you make to the agency are used to service the NBCFDC loan. This two-tier structure is why the application, approval and grievance process all happen at the agency, and why timelines and exact security requirements vary from state to state.

Help and where to check

• NBCFDC toll-free helpline: 18001023399
• NBCFDC portal: nbcfdc.gov.in, carries the scheme flyer, the list of State Channelising Agencies and channel partners, and application details.
• Your State Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation for state-specific forms, security norms and status of your application.

NBCFDC also runs other products such as the Education Loan Scheme, Micro Finance Scheme, Mahila Samriddhi Yojana and the New Swarnima Scheme for women; if the General Loan does not fit your need, ask the SCA which product suits your activity and income.

How to check your application status

There is no central online tracker on nbcfdc.gov.in where a borrower can enter an application number and see a status, because NBCFDC does not process individual applications itself. Your file sits with the State Channelising Agency (SCA) or channel partner (bank, RRB or MFI) that took your application, so status checking is a mix of that agency's own process and NBCFDC's helpline.

1. Ask the SCA or channel partner branch directly. This is the most reliable route. Every application is logged at the branch or SCA office with a file or registration number given to you at submission; quote that number when you follow up.
2. Track through the SCA's own portal or office, if it has one. Several State Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporations run their own state-level tracking systems or issue passbooks/receipts with milestones (received, under appraisal, sanctioned, disbursed). Check with your specific state's SCA website or office, since this is not standardised across states.
3. Call the NBCFDC toll-free helpline on 18001023399 if the SCA is unresponsive or you want to confirm that NBCFDC has released funds to the agency for your case. NBCFDC's own visibility is usually limited to fund releases to the SCA, not individual applicant files, so they will typically redirect you back to the SCA with guidance.
4. Visit the SCA office in person for a status update if phone or online follow-up does not work, particularly useful once the appraisal stage is complete and you are waiting on sanction or disbursal.
5. Watch your bank account and passbook once you are told the loan is sanctioned. Disbursal usually comes as a credit to the account you gave at application, and the channelising agency will share the repayment schedule at the same time.

Because approval, sanction and disbursal all happen at the SCA or channel-partner level, the practical status check is always local: keep your application/file number, the name of the officer who received your file, and the SCA's contact details from day one, and follow up with them at each stage rather than expecting a central online dashboard.

Common reasons for rejection

• Income certificate shows family income above Rs 3 lakh. The scheme's income ceiling is fixed; even a small overshoot on the certificate disqualifies the application. Fix: get a fresh income certificate that correctly reflects the current financial year and includes only the household members counted under the local income-certificate rules, and reapply once the figure is genuinely within the limit.
• Caste certificate does not name a Backward Class notified by the Centre or the applicant's state. Some caste certificates list a community that is notified in one state but not recognised as "Backward Class" for NBCFDC purposes in another, or the certificate is issued in the wrong format for the SCA's requirement. Fix: confirm with the SCA that your community is on the applicable notified list before applying, and get the certificate reissued in the format the SCA accepts if there is a mismatch.
• The project report or business plan is not viable. SCAs and channel partners appraise every loan proposal for commercial viability, projected income and repayment capacity. A vague, incomplete, or unrealistic business plan (no clear activity, no cost break-up, no revenue estimate) gets turned down at appraisal. Fix: prepare a specific project report with the activity, cost of assets or working capital needed, expected income, and how instalments will be paid from that income; many SCAs or local NGOs can help format this.
• Applicant cannot bring the 15% margin money or matching contribution. Since NBCFDC funds up to 85% of the project cost, the remaining share has to come from the channel partner or the borrower. If neither can arrange this share, the loan does not go through. Fix: check with the SCA whether the channel partner is covering the margin in your case, and if not, arrange the balance amount or scale down the project cost to a level you can co-fund.
• Applicant is a defaulter on a previous NBCFDC, SCA, or bank loan. An unresolved default anywhere in the channelising or banking system is grounds for rejection of a fresh loan. Fix: clear or formally settle the old default first, and get a no-objection or clearance record from the earlier lender before reapplying.
• Missing or mismatched Aadhaar, bank, or KYC details. Name spelling mismatches between the caste certificate, income certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook are a common, avoidable cause of files being sent back rather than approved outright. Fix: make sure the name, address and other identity details are consistent across every document before submission, correcting any of them at the issuing office if they do not match.
• Loan purpose falls outside the scheme's scope. The General Loan Scheme funds income-generating activity; requests that read as personal, consumption, or non-income-generating expenditure are not eligible under this product. Fix: recast the request as a specific income-generating activity, or ask the SCA whether one of NBCFDC's other products (Education Loan, Micro Finance Scheme, Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, New Swarnima Scheme) fits the actual need better.
• Security or guarantor requirement not met. Individual SCAs and channel partners can set their own collateral or guarantor norms depending on the loan size, and an application that does not meet the local agency's security condition is held up or rejected even though it meets NBCFDC's own eligibility. Fix: ask the SCA upfront what security or guarantee it expects for your loan slab, and arrange it before formal submission rather than after appraisal has begun.