New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS): Rs 7.28 lakh crore loans have been disbursed to 3.27 crore marginal and small entrepreneurs, including SCs and STs, under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in the last three financial years.

Between 2016-17 and 2018-19, Rs 94,600 crore loans (13 per cent of the total disbursal under the PMMY)) have been sanctioned to 3,27,67,442 borrowers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, according to the Finance Ministry data.

Under the PMMY, annual targets are assigned to the Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) by the government. The targets for MLIs was set at Rs 1,80,000 crore for FY17, Rs 2,44,000 crore for FY18 and Rs 3,00,000 crore for FY19.

Between April 2019 and October 25, 2019, Rs 1,25,088.58 crore loans were sanctioned to 240.03 lakh borrowers. Of this, 68 per cent (163.02 lakh) were women borrowers, and 19 per cent (163.02 lakh) new entrepreneurs. 129.70 lakh ST/OBC borrowers constituted 54 per cent of the total.

Mudra loans are given by commercial banks, RRBs, small finance banks, MFIs and NBFCs.

Finance Ministry officials said the government had been receiving complaints with regard to implementation of the scheme, including non-disbursal of loan in a time-bound manner. These are redressed in coordination with the respective MLIs as per the instructions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government.

The PMMY was launched by the Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.