National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation has disbursed concessional credit to the tune of Rs. 2347.15 crore during the last three years i.e., from F.Y. 2021-22 to F.Y. 2023-24, thereby providing benefits to 5,50,939 beneficiaries from minority communities.

NMDFC has following eligibility criteria for the dissemination of concessional credit:

1. Persons should belong to a notified National Minority, specifically Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis, and Sikhs, as defined by the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992
2. Person having annual family income of up to Rs. 3.00 lakhs under Credit Line-1 and up to Rs. 8.00 lakhs under Credit Line-2.

Applicants are required to submit necessary documentation to substantiate their fulfilment of the aforementioned eligibility criteria. There is a multi level screening mechanism used by respective State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) of NMDFC, encompassing document verification, background checks, and site inspections, to rigorously ascertain that credit support is effectively reaching genuine and deserving minority entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, the sanctioned amount is released through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly into the KYC-authenticated accounts of the beneficiaries.

NMDFC regularly engages independent third-party agencies to conduct impact studies across the country. These studies are carried out to assess the impact of NMDFC's schemes on targeted beneficiaries and evaluate the sustainability of projects and units financed under its loan programs, with respect to beneficiaries and units financed during the preceding two years. As per the study got conducted in 2018-19, 90% of the financed units across the country were found to be operational & sustainable. Most of the State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) have reported grass root level recovery rates ranging from 70% to 100%, which in itself is testimony that these units are sustainable and profitable ventures, helping the beneficiaries in making timely repayments.

To ensure the timely utilization of funds by State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) for lending to ultimate beneficiaries and to prevent fund misuse, NMDFC is currently charging higher penal interest from the SCAs. The SCAs are required to refund any unutilized amounts to NMDFC in order to avoid the imposition of higher penal interest. This has ensured that most SCAs disburse loans to beneficiaries within the stipulated time frame of three months.

Furthermore, to ensure timely repayment of loans, SCAs are offered a 0.5% interest rebate. This has helped NMDFC maintain a high loan repayment rate (as on February 28, 2025), of 96.26% under the Term Loan scheme and 99.33% under the Micro Finance Scheme.

As far as the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) is concerned, it only implements schemes such as Term Loans, Micro Finance, Education Loans, and the Virasat Scheme to empower youth and women from minority communities by providing concessional loans for educational purposes and self-employment income generation ventures. The NMDFC schemes are implemented through State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) nominated by respective State Governments including West Bengal, Union Territory Administrations, as well as banking partners like Punjab Gramin Bank and Canara Bank.

As per regular third-party impact study undertaken, more than 90% of the units financed are found to be operational and successful.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Minority & Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today

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