Odisha cabinet approves new scheme ‘SWAYAM,’ to provide interest free loan to youths for self-employment

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet today approved a new scheme “SWAYAM (U)” to facilitate self-employment for the urban youth i.e., Swatantra Yuva Udyami.

As per the press release issued by the Urban and Housing Development, under the scheme, Rs 1 lakh interest free loan will be provided unemployed/underemployed urban youth of the State, within the age group of 18-35 years (up to 40 years for special category such as SC, ST, PWD & Transgender) for setting up gainful self-employment ventures/ micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions, through easy access of credit through banks with interest subsidy.

The loan amount will be covered under CGTMSE guarantee to the extent of 85% and 15% will be guaranteed by the State.

Further, the burden of annual guarantee fee towards coverage under CGTMSE will be borne by the state.

The applicant must fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

1. Any individual within the age group of 18-35 years. For applicants belonging to SC / ST / PwD categories, the upper age limit will be 40 years.
2. Applicant’s family is covered under KALIA / BSKY Scheme or having income of less than 2 lakh per annum where “Family” implies self and spouse.

iii. The applicant must have UDYAM registered / UDYAM assisted number.

Applicants under any of the parameters listed below will be excluded from this scheme:

1. Defaulter in any bank / Financial Institution or having an outstanding loan for the same purpose from any Central / State Government Schemes.
2. Employees of Central/State Government or any PSUs / Statutory bodies and their families.

iii. If one member in the family is covered under this scheme.

The government has decided to cover 1 lakh eligible rural youth under this scheme initially and will spend Rs 448 crore out of its own budget. The scheme will be operational for 2 years.

State Government will provide the following support:

1. Guarantee up to 15% of loan over and above 85% CGTMSE guarantee.
2. The entire interest on the loan will be borne by the State Government.

iii. The annual guarantee fee of CGTMSE will be borne by the State Government.

There will be no collateral or processing fee for this loan. The repayment period will be 4 years which includes a moratorium period varying from 3 to 6 months as prescribed by the concerned bank / financial institution.

The scheme will be implemented in the following ways:

1. The applicant will register and submit the application to the Bank through a dedicated website.
2. The services of Mo-Seva Kendra can also be utilized by the applicant for submission of the application on the website.

iii. The choice of Bank selected by the beneficiary during application filing will conduct document and field verification on receipt of the application.

iv During field verification bank will assist the applicant in preparing the required simplified DPR for sanctioning the loan.

1. The banks will disburse the loan amount to the applicant after sanction and deposit of margin money. There will be a committee at the State / District/ Block level to monitor the Scheme for its smooth implementation.