<p>Bengaluru: The Karnataka government’s ‘Udyogini’ scheme, which aims to encourage women entrepreneurs by providing them subsidies up to Rs 1.5 lakh on loans to start their own business, has hardly helped anyone in the last three years, reveals government data.</p>.<p>Since 2023-24, only 160 of the 1,42,771 applicants have benefitted from the scheme, a minuscule 0.1%, according to data. Considering the financial constraints in approving all the applications, the government itself had set a target to process 4,504 applications over three years, and even against this target, the progress is just 3.5%. </p>.<p>The minister for women and child development, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, said the constituency-level committees vetting the applications were not giving approvals, delaying the process.</p>.<p>“A committee headed by each MLA has powers to approve two to three applications. Considering that the number of applications are high, the committee has found it difficult to just choose one or two. Hence, we have not received the final beneficiary list to process the applications,” she<br />said. </p>.<p>District-level officials have now been asked to follow up with the committees and MLAs to ensure that more beneficiaries are selected.</p>.Karnataka's Shakti scheme improved women’s access to jobs, healthcare: Study .<p>Sources said that in many cases the beneficiaries selected by the committees had defaulted on previous loans, indicating a poor judgement in choosing<br />beneficiaries.</p>.<p>“The CIBIL score of many beneficiaries was bad and the banks refused to process their loan applications. Hence, beneficiaries had to be selected again,” one of the sources<br />said.</p>.<p>Technical glitches have also delayed the process in some cases, Hebbalkar said.</p>.<p>Some women entrepreneurs said the government should work more towards promoting these schemes and tracking their<br />progress.</p>.<p>“There are many schemes that the government announces but does not track the progress. For women, especially, it gets difficult to keep following up with officials and running around to get the benefit of the scheme and hence, the government should be more open and fast with respect to schemes concerning women,” said Ashritha N, who runs a small bakery in Yelahanka.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The Karnataka government’s ‘Udyogini’ scheme, which aims to encourage women entrepreneurs by providing them subsidies up to Rs 1.5 lakh on loans to start their own business, has hardly helped anyone in the last three years, reveals government data.</p>.<p>Since 2023-24, only 160 of the 1,42,771 applicants have benefitted from the scheme, a minuscule 0.1%, according to data. Considering the financial constraints in approving all the applications, the government itself had set a target to process 4,504 applications over three years, and even against this target, the progress is just 3.5%. </p>.<p>The minister for women and child development, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, said the constituency-level committees vetting the applications were not giving approvals, delaying the process.</p>.<p>“A committee headed by each MLA has powers to approve two to three applications. Considering that the number of applications are high, the committee has found it difficult to just choose one or two. Hence, we have not received the final beneficiary list to process the applications,” she<br />said. </p>.<p>District-level officials have now been asked to follow up with the committees and MLAs to ensure that more beneficiaries are selected.</p>.Karnataka's Shakti scheme improved women’s access to jobs, healthcare: Study .<p>Sources said that in many cases the beneficiaries selected by the committees had defaulted on previous loans, indicating a poor judgement in choosing<br />beneficiaries.</p>.<p>“The CIBIL score of many beneficiaries was bad and the banks refused to process their loan applications. Hence, beneficiaries had to be selected again,” one of the sources<br />said.</p>.<p>Technical glitches have also delayed the process in some cases, Hebbalkar said.</p>.<p>Some women entrepreneurs said the government should work more towards promoting these schemes and tracking their<br />progress.</p>.<p>“There are many schemes that the government announces but does not track the progress. For women, especially, it gets difficult to keep following up with officials and running around to get the benefit of the scheme and hence, the government should be more open and fast with respect to schemes concerning women,” said Ashritha N, who runs a small bakery in Yelahanka.</p>