MUDRA loan NPAs at Rs 16,258 cr, over 66% rise compared to previous year

Though there has been tremendous response to the ambitious Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) loan scheme nation-wide, it has come to fore that loans of Rs 16,258.71 crore have been classified as non-performing assets (NPAs). MUDRA Limited has revealed this in response to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by city-based activist Abhay Kolarkar. Kolarkar had sought information regarding MUDRA loan disbursement since inception of the scheme in 2015-16, and also the details of NPAs in these loans.

Year No of loans Amount

sanctioned disbursed

2015-16 3,48,80,924 Rs 1,32,954.73 cr

2016-17 3,97,01,047 Rs 1,75,312.13 cr

2017-18 4,81,30,593 Rs 2,46,437.40 cr

* 2018-19 3,06,14,128 Rs 1,54,918.59 cr

Total 15,33,26,692 Rs 7,09,622.85 cr

The response from P S N Murthy, Deputy General Manager, MUDRA Limited, has revealed that total 15,33,26,692 loan proposals were sanctioned between March 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018. The amount disbursed in these many proposals was Rs 7,09,622.85 crore. The highest amount of loan disbursed was Rs 2,46,437.40 crore in the year 2017-18. However, the reply to RTI query also reveals that total 32,95,751 loan accounts were found to be NPAs as on December 31, 2018. These accounts involved a whopping amount of Rs 16,258.71 crore. Independent verification brought to fore that the number of MUDRA loan accounts categorised as NPAs was 17,99,000 as on March 31, 2018, and these involved an amount of Rs 9,769.99 crore. Compa-ring the data available, it becomes clear that in only nine months of the year 2018 (From April 1 to December 31), the number of loan accounts that became NPAs increased by 14,96,751 and the amount involved rose by Rs 6,488.72 crore, that is, by over 66 per cent. As far as the data for the state of Maharashtra is concerned, MUDRA Limited records show that total 1,41,18,217 loan proposals were sanctioned between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018.

The amount of loan involved was Rs 73,045.57 crore. The comparison for the years 2017-18 and 2018-19 (till December 2018) reveals decline in number of loan proposals sanctioned nationally, but the figures for Maharashtra for the same period show increase. Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana is an ambitious scheme of the Central Government launched on April 8, 2015 for providing loans up to Rs 10 lakh to ‘non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises’. The loans are given by commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, co-operative banks, non-banking financial corporations. The loans are provided in three categories -- Shishu (up to Rs 50,000/-), Kishore (from Rs 50,001/- to Rs 5 lakh), and Tarun (from Rs 5,00,001/- to Rs 10 lakh).