WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Mrs Vasantha is a 32-year-old woman from Vallakottai Village, Sriperumpudhur Block in Kanchipuram District. She attended school until the 12th Grade, after which she acquired three years’ experience working as support staff at the SBI Customer Service Centre in Vallakottai Village. During that time, she earned a salary of just INR 7,000 and always dreamt of starting her own Digital Payment Centre as a way to empower herself and escape poverty.
Armed with information about CARE India’s project initiatives to help empower women from marginalised communities and promote gender equity, she approached us for help in realising her dream. CARE India extended the necessary support to commence her business by providing a laptop and a printer worth INR 85,000. Mrs Vasantha invested INR 50,000 of her own money and tied up with RapiPay to provide the Digital Payment Centre service.
Currently, she offers services such as Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), Domestic Money Transfer, Bill Payments and Utilities, photocopying, printouts, and other allied services in her village. She was assisted in accessing a Mudra loan of INR 50,000 from Federal Bank, Mathur, at an interest rate of 8.25% per annum. Mrs Vasantha is currently earning around INR 10,000 per month. She runs her Digital Payment Centre from her home and has plans to modify the front portion of the house into a shop in the near future.
About the Programme: CARE India supported women entrepreneurs to avail credit assistance for establishing their enterprise under the PM MUDRA Scheme. The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a financial initiative launched by the Indian government in 2015. The scheme aims to provide non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) with affordable credit, fostering growth and employment. Under the PMMY, loans up to INR 10 lakhs are granted through three categories: Shishu, Kishor, and Tarun, representing differing loan sizes. The Mudra Bank oversees the scheme, partnering with financial institutions to disburse loans. By facilitating access to finance, the PM MUDRA Scheme empowers small businesses, including women entrepreneurs, and bolsters economic development.
