New Delhi, April 8 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, which focuses on funding the unserved, will continue to empower entrepreneurs to become active participants in the nation's journey to become Viksit Bharat by 2047.
On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), Sitharaman said that India has witnessed a silent transformation where crores of ordinary citizens stepped into entrepreneurship with newfound confidence in the last decade.
"The PM Mudra Yojana has redefined access to credit by empowering millions with the confidence to dream and the means to fulfill it. By removing barriers and trusting the aspirations of our people, it has strengthened the spirit of enterprise across India," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.
At its heart lies an initiative launched on April 8, 2015, by the Prime Minister, the PMMY, which, by design, focused on 'funding the unserved', Sitharaman said.
"Eleven years later, the scheme has been instrumental in reshaping the credit landscape for MSMEs and countless individual entrepreneurs in the country. These were those entrepreneurs who were hitherto excluded from the formal banking system. With this initiative, entrepreneurship has become truly democratised by removing the entry barriers to credit," she said.
Highlighting PMMY’s role in empowering millions and fulfilling the vision of inclusive growth, she said that cumulatively, more than 57.79 crore loans have been sanctioned, amounting to Rs 40.07 lakh crore of disbursement.
"Two-thirds of the loans have been sanctioned to women entrepreneurs. Approximately one-fifth of all the loans were extended to first-time entrepreneurs. In sheer magnitude, this translates to 12.15 crore loans with an amount of 12 lakh crore extended to new entrepreneurs," she said.
The finance minister also appreciated banks, various financial institutions, and stakeholders for bringing the scheme to the common man and making it a resounding success.
"PM MUDRA Yojana will continue to empower entrepreneurs to become active participants in our nation's journey to become Viksit Bharat by 2047," she added.
On the occasion, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary said, financial inclusion is one of the top priorities of the government, as it plays a vital role in achieving inclusive growth, and PMMY provides a platform for small entrepreneurs to access loan support from banks, NBFCs, and MFIs as it drives credit inclusion.
"It has created self-employment opportunities across the country, especially for marginalised sections of society, including Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, Other Backwards Classes (51 per cent of loan beneficiaries), and women (67 per cent of loan beneficiaries)," he said.
Chaudhary said this initiative has been designed to bridge the gap in financial accessibility, offering streamlined, easy, collateral-free loans up to Rs 20 lakh to support small-scale business ventures for non-corporate and non-farm income-generating activities.
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) serve as the backbone of the industrial ecosystem, acting as essential partners to major corporations and driving balanced economic development.
By diversifying their reach into new industries and refining their output, these enterprises are effectively addressing the needs of both local consumers and global markets, the finance ministry said in a statement.
The landscape of business financing has evolved rapidly, with digital innovations and data analytics making it easier for smaller firms to secure capital, it added.