FM asks banks to 'hand-hold' dalit entrepreneurs

Mumbai, Jun 6 (KNN)  Finance minister P Chidambaram today asked banks to lend to at least one entrepreneur from socially backward classes in each of their branches.

“Every branch of every bank must support and hand-hold at least one dalit entrepreneur,” Chidambaram said at an event organised by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) here.

If 1,00,000 branches of banks across the country can back such entrepreneurs, it will help in “1, 00,000 flowers blooming in this country,” said a media report quoting Chidambaram. 

The Small Industries Development Board of India has contributed Rs 10 crore to launch a DICCI SME Fund aimed at backing such small and medium entrepreneurs.

Further, in order to provide a boost to entrepreneurs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category, DICCI announced the launch of a Rs 500 crore venture capital fund.  (KNN)