PM: Govt plans fund to ensure loans to poor

The government is planning to set up a Rs 1,000 crore Credit Risk Guarantee Fund to encourage banks to give loans to the poor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday. Though he asserted that policies cannot have 'one-size- fits-all' approach towards both big and small cities.

The government is planning to set up a Rs 1,000 crore Credit Risk Guarantee Fund to encourage banks to give loans to the poor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday. Though he asserted that policies cannot have 'one-size- fits-all' approach towards both big and small cities.

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Addressing the national conference on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Singh said, "to encourage banks to lend in significant volumes to the economically weaker sections and low income groups, we are considering the establishment of a Credit Risk Guarantee Fund with a corpus of R1,000 crore in the current year."

The JNNURM experience, according to the PM, has been 'mixed' since it was launched in December 2005. "But we are encouraged by the good work that has been done and also the lessons learnt. Perhaps, the most important achievement of JNNURM is that there is much greater awareness today of the need to plan for urban habitats consistent with aspirations of modern," Singh said.