Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will deposit ₹560.73 crore including the interest-free bank loans worth ₹549.70 crore to the accounts of petty traders under the Jagananna Thodu scheme on July 18 (Tuesday). This is the first tranche of the benefits being extended to the beneficiaries for the fourth year in a row. Of the total ₹560.73 crore, ₹549.70 crore will be fresh loans while the remaining ₹11.03 crore is interest subvention.
The Chief Minister will deposit the amount to the bank accounts of 5,10,412 petty traders and artisans with a click of a button.
Bank loan of ₹10,000 is given to each beneficiary of the Jagananna Thodu. If they repay the in time, they would get ₹10,000 plus ₹1,000 as loan for the second time. Third time, they would get ₹10,000 plus ₹2,000 if the loan is repaid in time and so on. The government bears the interest burden.
So far, the government has reimbursed ₹74.69 crore as interest subvention including ₹11.03 crore being paid on Tuesday to 15.31 lakh beneficiaries who have repaid their loans on schedule.
So far, ₹2,955.79 crore worth interest-free loans have been disbursed to petty traders, including ₹549.70 crore being distributed on Tuesday to 15,87,492 beneficiaries. Of this, 13,29,011 are petty traders who have requested and received loans multiple times after repaying the previous loans on time.
The Jagananna Thodu scheme was designed after closely witnessing the hardships of petty traders and artisans of handicrafts, who provide services for small profits but struggle to repay usurious interest to the private loan providers.
