Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, Allahabad Bank ink MoU for web portal to process

The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on January 10, 2018 inked an MoU with Allahabad Bank for setting up an online portal for processing interest subsidy to be paid to people who availed loans under the Centre’s DAY-NULM scheme.

The move is aimed at faster payment of subsidy to the people and enhanced monitoring system with availability of a mechanism to ascertain whether the subsidy has reached the beneficiary or not, an official release said.

Under the Self-Employment Programme (SEP) component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), loans up to Rs 2 lakh is available to individuals in urban areas for setting up micro-enterprise. The loan limit is 10 lakh for a group.

Besides, loans are also available for self-help groups (SHGs) under the scheme.

Interest subvention from the ministry is available for the amount of interest charged over and above 7 per cent, by the banks, and women SHGs are eligible for additional three per cent subvention on timely loan repayment.

Currently, processing of interest subvention is done manually. Banks submit claims to urban local bodies (ULBs) on a monthly basis, who then verify and settle them – a tedious and time-taking process.