‘Huge social change’: Smriti Irani on ‘women-led development’ in India

Union minister Smriti Irani on Monday asserted that women's participation has exponentially increased under the current BJP-led government and said some financial interventions that were not explicitly gendered also helped the cause.

Addressing the topic of "Women-Led Development," a key agenda item at the G20 Summit, during an event organized by Hindustan Times, the women and child development minister highlighted the MUDRA scheme which aimed to provide collateral-free loans to individuals from financially marginalized families interested in starting small businesses.

While the loan was not aimed at assisting women in particular, Irani noted that 70 per cent of the beneficiaries among the 37 crore MUDRA loans turned out to be women, illustrating the exponential rise in women's participation.

Discussing the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs before 2014, the minister pointed to the lack of access to capital due to their inability to provide collateral.

“Post-MUDRA, these women, in rural parts of the country and urban slums, made a business plan and went to a bank. (They) could convince the bank of their business plan, get a loan, service it and return the loan,” she said. “That is a huge social change which is not spoken of.”

The minister emphasized that the change began when women recognized the need for financial linkages to established financial institutions and knew how to leverage them.

“So what happened on Jan Dhan was for the first time a banking officer went to the homes of such citizens,” Irani said.

“These are people who were not allowed in the banks because they had no papers. Now the paperwork and banker all went to their homes. So you have 450 million bank accounts, 230 million of those are women and suddenly you see 220 million (of these account holders) taking loans,” she added.

Irani highlighted another significant financial intervention called "Stand Up India."

Under this scheme, loans of up to ₹1 crore were made available.

“But one issue he (Prime Minister Modi) mandated was that in every district make sure at least one female-owned enterprise gets that loan. ₹40,000 crore has been given under that one financial intervention. Again, 80 per cent of beneficiaries are women,” the minister said.

The minister acknowledged the invaluable contribution made by these women, stating that they have not only benefited themselves but have also uplifted the status of women across the country.

“Why? Because now banks know that when these women in enterprises take loans, they pay back. Those 80 per cent women who took even that ₹1 crore loan, they paid and did a great service to all women in the country by saying we are bankable,” she added.