NCDC to promote entrepreneurship in cooperatives

In order to promote entrepreneurship among the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has come up with a scheme ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme” for attracting them to cooperative business ventures.
“NCDC has created a dedicated a fund with liberal features enabling youth to avail the scheme,” Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh said at the launch of the scheme in New Delhi Wednesday.
According to Ministry of Agriculture, the Central Government has been encouraging ‘Start-Ups’ for ease of doing business, non-conventional opportunities are emerging and are being encouraged. The conducive environment is being leveraged by private and corporate sectors and ‘Hub Start-ups’ are being promoted. The newly launched scheme would encourage cooperatives to venture into new and innovative areas.
The scheme will be linked to Rs 1000 crore ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF)’ created by the NCDC. It would have more incentives for cooperatives of North Eastern region, aspirational districts and cooperatives with women or SC or ST or people with disabilities (PwD). The funding for the project will be up to 80 percent of the project cost for these special categories while 70 percent for others. The scheme envisages two percent less than the applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project cost up to Rs 3 crore including two years moratorium on payment of principal. All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible, the ministry informed.
The minister explained that this scheme was expected to meet the needs of today’s youth. He added that NCDC, being the most preferred financial institution in the world of cooperatives, has embarked on Sahakar 22, a Mission for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022.
The minister while complimenting the NCDC on its remarkable performance since 2014 stated that the NCDC had an excellent track record and would provide the required hand-holding for making the scheme a success.
The NCDC has the unique distinction of being the sole statutory organisation functioning as an apex financial and developmental institution exclusively devoted to cooperative sector. It supports cooperatives in diverse fields apart from agriculture and allied sectors. It is an ISO 9001:2015 compliant organisation and has a distinctive edge of competitive financing. It has extended financial assistance of Rs 63,702.61 crore during 2014-2018, as on November 13.