Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh on Saturday said that he is exploring the idea of creating a Women SHG (Self Help Group) bank to fund innovative ideas and products of Didis (SHG members) to financially empower them.

Speaking as Chief Guest at the SARAS Aajeevika Mela-2023 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the minister said there are over nine crore Women SHG members, that is nine crore households, and if each Didi saves Rs 100 per month, the bank will succeed with a staggering amount, and even more with higher deposits by most of the Didis.

Giriraj Singh said time has come to give a full play to “Vocal for Local” Mantra of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and appealed to all present in the Mela and to all citizens of the country to buy products from women artisans and enjoy the delicious, ethnic cuisines in food stalls of SHG members.

More than 350 Women SHG Members have put up 180 stalls from 27 States. There are 23 shops owned by SHG members in the India Food Court with the participation of over 100 Sakhis.

The Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister said the target of the Prime Minister to have 10 crore SHG members by 2024 will be achieved as the Ministry is working on a pro-active mode to enroll new women Sakhis (members).

He said in May, 2014 when Modi took charge, there were 2.35 crore SHG members, but with a focused approach to empower rural poor women in the last nine years, the number of SHG members has swelled to more than nine Crore and will touch 10 crore members by 2024.

The minister said that the cumulative loan to SHGs was about Rs 80.000 crore before 2014 and now the bank linkage has crossed over 6.25 lakh crore in the last nine years, with an NPA of just 2.08 per cent. He said efforts are on bring the NPAs to less than one per cent.

He said each women beneficiary must save at least Rs 1 lakh per annum through sale of local products, which is the vision of the Prime Minister. He expressed confidence that within few years he will be able to achieve the target of 10 lakh Lakhpati Didis and added that the day is not far away when some of the lakhpati Didis will become Crorepati Didis.

Referring to the Atmanirbhar pitch of the Prime Minister he said today the best products of the SHGs are also being exported to different countries and there is a need for more and more awareness both locally and globally about their niche products through e-commerce platforms and other avenues.