Pashupalan Loan Scheme (Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation)

What is the Pashupalan loan scheme of GBCDC?

Pashupalan Loan Scheme is the animal husbandry component of the term loan programme run by the Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation (GBCDC) under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme gives families from Socially and Educationally Backward Classes a low-interest loan to buy cows or buffaloes and start earning from milk.

GBCDC was set up in 1997-98 and acts as the State Channelising Agency in Gujarat for the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation. That is why the loan is cheap: the corporation's published terms show the unit is funded as 85% of the unit cost to 75% from the national corporation and 10% from the state government, with the beneficiary putting in the remaining margin.

According to the corporation's scheme page, the term loan programme has three strands, and the animal husbandry strand, known locally as the pashupalan yojana, carries a maximum loan of Rs 1.00 lakh. The other two strands are small business, with a ceiling of Rs 2.00 lakh, and transport, also with a ceiling of Rs 2.00 lakh and a compulsory valid driving licence.

Core terms

• Maximum loan for animal husbandry: Rs 1,00,000
• Interest: 6% per year
• Repayment: 60 equal monthly instalments, five years including interest
• Funding: 75% national corporation, 10% state government, balance from the beneficiary
• Purpose: purchase of milch animals such as cows and buffaloes

Who is eligible for the GBCDC Pashupalan loan?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Gujarat belonging to a Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) as notified by the state.
• Your family's annual income does not exceed Rs 3,00,000.
• You are between 21 and 45 years of age on the date of application.
• You have experience, training or technical skill in animal husbandry — a dairy cooperative membership or existing cattle are the usual proof.
• You can provide a guarantor acceptable to the corporation.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not belong to a Socially and Educationally Backward Class. Scheduled Caste applicants are not eligible here and must approach the Gujarat Scheduled Castes Development Corporation; minority-community applicants go to the Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Corporation.
• Your family income is above Rs 3,00,000 a year.
• You are under 21 or over 45.
• You or another member of your family already has an outstanding loan from the corporation, or has defaulted on one. The GBCDC online portal states that such applicants should not apply.
• You have no experience or training in cattle rearing and cannot show it.

Note that the corporations in Gujarat generally allow one loan per family under direct finance. A household cannot stack a pashupalan loan for the husband and a small business loan for the wife in the same cycle.

What documents are needed?

How to apply for the Pashupalan loan

1. Open the corporation's online portal at gbcdconline.gujarat.gov.in and check whether the self-employment or direct finance window is currently open. GBCDC opens applications in announced windows and closes them when the district target is filled.
2. Register with your mobile number and create a login. Keep that number active. The corporation sends sanction and disbursement messages to it.
3. Select the animal husbandry / pashupalan component under the term loan scheme and fill in the application: personal details, caste, family income, the animals you intend to buy and their estimated cost.
4. Upload the documents and your photograph in the sizes the portal specifies. Blurred caste and income certificates are a frequent cause of return.
5. Confirm the application. An application that is saved but not confirmed is not treated as submitted. Note down the application number.
6. Print the confirmed form, sign it, attach self-attested copies of every document, and submit the file to the district Social Welfare Officer or the district office of the corporation within the days stated on the receipt.
7. Attend the verification and interview if the district office calls you. The officer checks the shed or space where the animals will be kept.
8. After sanction, complete the loan papers and the surety formalities. The money is then transferred to your bank account against the purchase.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the office of the district Social Welfare Officer or the district office of the Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation.
2. Ask for the term loan application form for the animal husbandry component and the current-year checklist.
3. Submit the filled form with caste certificate, income certificate, age proof, Aadhaar, ration card, bank passbook and guarantor papers, and take a dated acknowledgement.

Most districts will still make the online entry for you, because sanction and disbursement run on the online system.

How to check your application status

1. Log in at gbcdconline.gujarat.gov.in with the mobile number you registered.
2. Open the application status option and enter your application number.
3. The screen shows whether the file is pending at the district office, sanctioned, or returned with objections.

For anything the portal does not answer, the corporation's administrative helpline is 079-23257559, available on government working days from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Why Pashupalan loan applications get rejected

• Application not confirmed on the portal before the window closed.
• Income certificate above Rs 3,00,000, or issued by an authority the corporation does not accept.
• Caste certificate in the wrong category. An SC or ST certificate does not qualify here.
• Age outside 21 to 45 on the application date.
• No acceptable guarantor, or guarantor papers incomplete.
• Existing or defaulted loan in the family from any government corporation.
• District target already exhausted, which returns even a complete file.

The practical fix for most of these is procedural: get a fresh income and caste certificate before the window opens, line up the guarantor early, and confirm the application on day one of the window rather than the last day.

How the Pashupalan loan compares with other Gujarat cattle loans

Gujarat runs parallel corporations for different communities, and applicants often apply to the wrong one and lose a season.

• Gujarat Gopalak Vikas Nigam (GGVN) serves the Rabari and Bharwad pastoralist communities. Its pashupalan scheme is much larger: the corporation publishes loan sizes of Rs 1,40,000 for a two-animal unit and Rs 4,00,000 for a four-animal unit including Rs 1,20,000 for a cattle shed, with an additional loan of up to Rs 2,60,000 after a year of regular repayment. Its age band is 21 to 50 and the income ceiling is Rs 5 lakh, and dairy cooperative membership is required.
• GBCDC, described on this page, serves the wider SEBC group with a Rs 1,00,000 animal husbandry loan.
• Gujarat Scheduled Castes Development Corporation and the Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Corporation run equivalent schemes for their respective groups.

Check which corporation your caste certificate maps to before you start, and apply only there.

Help and grievance redressal

• GBCDC helpline: 079-23257559 on government working days.
• Head office: Managing Director, Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation, 2nd Floor, Block No. 11, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar

• District level: the Social Welfare Officer of your district handles verification, sanction and recovery queries.

Applying is free. The corporation does not authorise any agent to collect money for "getting a loan sanctioned", and repayment instalments should be paid only through the corporation's official payment channel or its district office receipt.