Hyderabad, March 20:
Hyderabad, 20th March 2023 – Over two lakh women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the state of Telangana have received a total of Rs. 217 crores in their bank accounts. This initiative was released on the orders of Finance and Health Minister Tanniru Harish Rao during the 35th review meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) held on December 23rd, 2022.
During the meeting, Minister Harish Rao directed the officials to implement the interest rates for the loans of SHGs based on the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He made it clear that officials must ensure the money collected going against the rules should be paid back with interest.
The RBI gave clear guidelines to the bankers on July 20th, 2022, on how much interest they should charge from the Women’s Self Help Groups. The RBI has suggested imposing a maximum of 7 per cent interest for loans up to Rs 3 lakh and 10 per cent for loans up to Rs 5 lakh or one year’s MCLR, whichever is low. However, it came to the notice of Minister Harish Rao that few banks have not taken these rules into consideration and collected more interest. Even different branches of the same bank had collected different interest rates. The minister found out that the women in the self-help groups were losing money by paying huge interests.
The matter was discussed in the SLBC meeting held on December 23rd, 2022. The Minister asked the bankers to review whether or not they were following the RBI guidelines. If they had charged excess interest, they should deposit the same in the bank accounts of SHG women. The bankers reviewed the matter and found that Rs 217.61 Crore were collected additionally from the 2,03,535 Groups. As a result, the additional money collected by the bankers was deposited into the bank accounts of the SHG women on Monday. About two lakh SHGs got benefitted with the directions of the Minister Harish Rao.
This move is expected to provide financial relief to women in SHGs and promote financial inclusion in Telangana. The efforts of Minister Harish Rao have been appreciated by the community, who have hailed this decision as a significant step towards empowering women in the state.
