Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget statement on Wednesday unveiled a 'Mahila Samman Saving Certificate' with a set interest rate of 7.5% for two years. The deposit might be made in the name of a girl or a woman. The maximum deposit amount has been set at Rs 2 lakh, and the plan will also allow for partial withdrawals.
Sitharaman stated in her Union budget speech that 81 lakh self-help organisations had been formed by mobilising rural women for economic empowerment under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission.
Sitharaman also mentioned that the government will also help these groups to reach the next stage of economic empowerment through the formation of large producer enterprises or collectives with each having several thousand members.
The Finance Minister stated that there is already a Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) for girl children. An account may be formed for a girl as young as 10 years old to invest in this plan, which has a 21-year term (account is closed after the marriage of the girl). Deposits, however, can only be made until the 15th year.
Although the scheme has some disadvantages also. The plan has a liquidity problem. The entire SSY corpus is frozen until the female reaches the age of 18. Even yet, only up to 50% of the investment amount can be withdrawn for educational purposes.
Under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, small farmers have received financial support totaling more than Rs. 2.25 lakh crore. According to the finance minister, the initiative has supplied Rs. 54,000 crore to about three crore women farmers.
