Loans to fisherwomen: Vijaya Bank forms 300 joint liability groups

Vijaya Bank's Mangalore region has formed 300 joint liability groups for disbursing loans to fisherwomen. Till now, around 2,800 fisherwomen in two districts of coastal Karnataka have taken loans under this scheme.

Mr Sudhakar Shetty M., Deputy General Manager, said that the bank has disbursed around Rs 14.9 crore to 2,804 members of 300 such groups in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

Asked about the recovery from these groups, he said as of now it is good because of peer pressure from the group members.

Each member of the group is given a loan of Rs 50,000 at 3 per cent. A group can have at most 10 members.

Ms Padmavathi, a member of Nandadeepa group from Mangalore, said that her group members are happy with this format, as earlier they used to take loans from private moneylenders.

Mr Ashok Amin, a trader in a local fish market who coordinated the formation of these groups with fisherwomen, said this facility has helped them in carrying out operations without difficulty.

Earlier, they were paying around Rs 200 as interest for a Rs 1,000 loan from private moneylenders.

Ms Vanajakshi, a member of Kousalya group, said that they are getting timely money for selling fish in the local market.

Since the price is good for fish, some of them could save for their families.

However, she demanded that the loan limit be increased to Rs 1 lakh a person.

However, the bankers say that to get loans at 3 per cent interest rate the upper limit is Rs 50,000.

vinayakaj@thehindu.co.in