State disburses loan of Rs 800 cr so far

Kolkata: Bengal government has so far given a loan of Rs 800 crore under “West Bengal Bhabishyat Credit Card Scheme” (WBBCCS) scheme since its inception in April 2023, but a huge number of applications submitted to the state for setting up small and micro enterprises show that there will be a further boost in the sector in 2025.

In the recently concluded ‘Silper Samadhan’ (Solution to Industry) programme at all block and municipality levels, the state has received a tremendous response with a huge number of applications being submitted to the government.

The state MSME department believes that as there has been a major surge in the sector, loan amount offered by the state government under WBBCCS may soon cross Rs 2,000 crore. The programme was meant for awareness and enrollment in various schemes of the MSME department in the state. As many as 550 camps were hosted across the state.

The scheme was announced by the state government in the state Budget for 2023-24 that was presented in February last year in the state legislative Assembly.

The WBBCCS scheme offers subsidy linked and collateral free loans for setting up new ventures/ projects/ micro enterprises in manufacturing, service and business / trading/ agro-based activities for the young entrepreneurs in the age group 18-55 years. Eligible applicants can take a business loan of up to Rs 5 lakh to start a business. Seed money of up to Rs 25,000 is provided by the government.

Young entrepreneurs avail benefits of WBBCCS. A significant number of educated youths of the state who have entrepreneurship skills and want to be self-reliant by setting up micro-enterprises have limited access to institutional finance for their credit needs.

The Mamata Banerjee government had therefore felt the necessity to facilitate the youth to become self-employed leading to income generation, wealth creation and creation of further employment opportunities in rural and urban areas of the state.