Tamil Nadu ranks first in India in the implementation of the ‘Weaver Mudra Scheme’ during 2016-17 and 2017-18, State Minister for handlooms and textiles OS Manian told the assembly recently. The state disbursed 18,488 Mudra loans to the tune of 90.12 cr during 2017-18, higher than the 17,031 loans worth 82.38 cr disbursed in 2016-17, he said.
The Mudra scheme was started by the Indian Textile Ministry where large State-run banks extend concessional loans up to 5 lakh to handloom weavers in all states. The State Government has also allocated 49,045 lakh for the scheme to distribute free dhotis and sarees, the Minister said. An allocation of 43,644.45 lakh has been made to provide free electricity to powerloom weavers, while 484.05 lakh has been allocated for handloom weavers in the current fiscal.
