SBI-SBH merger delays loans to differently-abled

Hyderabad: The differently-abled people, who have applied for loans to set up small business units have been waiting for over six months to get the bank loans.

It may be mentioned here that to set up business unit, the government gives a grant of Rs 50,000 and the banks give another Rs 50,000 as loan. But since January, the applicants who have been sanctioned loans have been waiting for the banks to release the money.

A 28-year-old differently-abled, Syed Yousuf said, “I wanted to setup a tailoring shop with the loan amount; but for the past six months, the bank has not released the loan and the bank employees and the manager did not respond to my request.”

Another applicant G Madhav Rao, said, “Since January the bank officials have been neglecting the issue to sanction the amount of Rs 1 lakh of which Rs 50,000 is bank loan and Rs 50,000 is subsidy. With this amount, I wanted to start an automobile shop, which still seems like a dream to me.”

Disabled Welfare Officer D Sudarshan said that he had taken up the issue with the bank officials and assured that the amount would be released at the earliest.

Speaking to the Hans India the bank official said, “It has been two months since the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) has been merged with the State Bank of India (SBI) and hence there is a delay in the approval of loans.”