Over two lakh SHGs in Telangana receive Rs 217 crore

Hyderabad: Over two lakh women's Self-Help Groups in the State received Rs 217 crore in their bank accounts on Monday thanks to the initiative of Finance Minister T Harish Rao who had noticed additional interest rates collected by some banks, against RBI norms. The minister, while participating in the 35th review meeting of the State-level Bankers Committee (SLBC) on December 23 last year, had directed officials to implement interest rates for loans of SHGs based on the RBI guidelines. He made it clear to officials to ensure that money collected against rules should be paid back with interest.

The RBI gave clear guidelines to the bankers on July 20, 2022, on interest the bankers should charge from the women's SHGs. The RBI has suggested imposing a maximum of seven per cent interest for loans up to Rs 3 lakh and 10 per cent for a loan upto Rs 5 lakh or one year's MCLR, whichever is low.

It has come to the notice of Harish Rao that a few banks have not taken this rule into consideration and collected more interest. Even different branches of same bank had collected different rate of interest. The minister found out that women in SHGs were losing money by paying huge interests. The matter was discussed in the SLBC meeting on December 23, 2022. The minister asked the bankers to review once again whether or not they were following the RBI guidelines. If they had charged excess interest, they should deposit the same in their bank accounts.

With this the bankers had a review meeting and found that Rs 217.61 crore was collected additionally from the 203,535 SHGs. As a result, the additional money collected by the bankers was deposited into the bank accounts of SHG women on Monday. About two lakh SHGs got benefited following the ministwer's directive.