Model created to enable rural women access bank credit

The West Bengal government has created a model for a significant growth in the access of credit from the formal banking sector to thousands of rural women.
State Mission Director and CEO of West Bengal State Rural Livelihoods Mission (under the panchayat and rural development department), Choten D Lama said the model had been evolved at the CII Skill Enclave here and the women who accessed the credit from the formal banking sector are engaged in various activities aimed at improving their incomes and livelihood opportunities.
These women are involved in handicarfts, production of food products or are engaged in traditional agri and allied sectors, she said.

More than 5.3 million poor women are members of self help groups in the state and since the launching of the initiative in 2015-16, the SHG credit linkage has grown in the past two years to Rs 3400 crore.
The credit target for 2017-18 is Rs 5,003 crore, she said.
Lama requested CII to work alongside the state government and make sure the SHG women receive top-notch skill training, acquire marketing acumen and gain wider market linkages.

"With some handholding, they can be a new model in entrepreneurship," Lama said adding that the state government has taken up a slew of projects primarily aimed at generating jobs for women living in villages.

All stakeholders in the skills sector must work together to ensure that demographic dividends of the nation's youth workforce is reaped, she added.
Executive Director and COO, National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), Jayanta Krishna said that budgetary outlays have been substantially increased.
He also underscored the importance of skills and startups.