PRADHAN MANTRI MUDRA YOJANA - A DECADE OF TRANSFORMATION

On April 8, 2015, Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), a flagship scheme aimed at providing financial support to micro-entrepreneurs and small business-es across India. Under the Micro Units Development and Refinancing Agency (MUDRA), this initiative was designed to "fund the unfunded" by offering col-lateral-free loans to non-corporate, non-farm micro and small enterprises.

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As we mark the tenth anniversary of this transformative scheme, it's an opportune moment to reflect on its achieve-ments, impact and the milestones that highlight its success.

Before the launch of PMMY, a sig-nificant part of India's entrepreneurial potential remained unrealized due to a lack of access to formal financing. Micro and small businesses, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, were of-ten left to fend for themselves without credit history, formal registration, or access to banking services. These en-trepreneurs depended on local money-lenders who charged exorbitant interest rates, trapping them in cycles of debt and stagnation. PMMY was launched to address this critical gap — not mere-ly as a credit scheme, but as a mission to uplift a forgotten segment of our economy. With minimal documentary requirements and structured loans cat-egorized under Shishu (upto ₹50,000), Kishore (₹50,001 to ₹5 lakh), Tarun (₹5,00,001 to ₹10 lakh) and the newly introduced Tarun Plus (₹10,00,001 to ₹20 lakh), the scheme has catered to diverse growth stages, enabling small units to scale up.

The past ten years have seen MUDRA evolve into being the corner-stone of India's grassroots economic revolution.

Over 52 crore loans have been sanctioned since the scheme's incep-tion, empowering millions of individu-als to pursue their entrepreneurial ambi-tions.

A staggering ₹33.5 lakh crore has been sanctioned by the MLIs, pro-viding a lifeline to micro-enterprises that form the backbone of India's econ-omy.

Women account for 68% of all MUDRA beneficiaries, approxi-mately 35.4 crore loans, highlighting the scheme's pivotal role in advancing women-led enterprises and economic empowerment.