Mudra loans sees instances of fraud in 2,313 accounts

The PM Mudra Yojana, the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2015 for providing loans to non-corporate, non-farm small or micro enterprises, has seen instances of fraud reported in 2,313 accounts in the last three years, parliament was told on Monday.

The number of such accounts have double every year since the inception of the scheme, under which over Rs 19 crore loans have been extended.

In 2016-17 the number of fraud accounts stood at 343, which almost doubled to 643 and in 2017-18 and 1,253 in the 2019-20, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Topping the list of most fraud reported account was Tamil Nadu (344), followed by Chandigarh (275), Andhra Pradesh (241) and Uttar Pradesh (213).

Jharkhand, on the contrary, saw just 2 instances of fraud reported.

"As per information compiled from Public Sector Banks (PSBs), instances of alleged frauds reported during the last three years and the current year so far is in 2,313 accounts," she said.

The Ministry also said that investigation has been initiated in all cases to ascertain lapses and fixing of accountability.

"Out of 103 delinquent employees identified, action has been taken on 68 as per extant guidelines," it said.

As reported by member lending institutions, the total Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) as a percentage of credit disbursed has shown a nominal increase from 2.52 per cent (FY18) to 2.68 per cent (FY19 (provisional).

NPAs, under Shishu category, have shown a steady decline from 4.14 per cent in FY 2016-17 to 1.93 per cent in FY 2017-18 and 1.29 per cent (provisional) in FY 2018-19 against the total credit disbursed under the scheme.

Under the Mudra scheme, three products namely 'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth and funding needs were created. IANS