Poor weather forced a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on board to hover for over 45 minutes this morning before it landed safely at Madhurapudi airport in Rajahmundry, giving some anxious moments to the state administration.
He later took the aerial route in the state helicopter from Rajahmundry to Poolla in West Godavari district where he was scheduled to launch ‘Stree Nidhi’, a state-level co-operative credit society for financing women self-help groups.
Stree Nidhi promises to finance self help group members, loans at a much cheaper interest rate and with better efficiency than micro-finance institutions (MFIs).
Stree Nidhi, is a joint initiative of the AP government and the Mandal Samakhyas ( district level organisations) hopes to mobilize at least Rs 1000 crore by the end of this fiscal.
“The model uses technology including mobile banking and e-banking systems. This would help a borrower provider funds with in the 48 hours. This will also be learning for existing MFIs as the cost of operations would be only up to 3 per cent.
If the model clicks it would be expanded to operations to reach Rs 4000 crore disbursements by 2014,” said a govt sources.
The authorised share capital of this society would be Rs 500 crore of which the paid up capital will be Rs 200 crore in the first year. The paid up share capital would have Rs 100 crore contribution from Mandal Samakhyas and the government matching the contribution as equity.
