Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday virtually launched the Bihar Rajya Jeevika Nidhi Saakh Sahkari Sangh Limited, a new cooperative initiative aimed at providing affordable credit to rural women entrepreneurs.
According to an official release, Jeevika Nidhi has been designed as “an alternative financial system to reduce dependence on microfinance institutions (MFIs) and ensure the availability of larger loans at lower interest rates.”
The initiative will be jointly funded by the Bihar government and the Centre.
As part of the launch, PM Modi transferred Rs 105 crore into the institution’s bank account to kick-start operations.
Emphasising women’s empowerment as central to India’s growth, PM Modi said:
“A major basis of India’s development is the empowerment of its women. To empower women, it is essential that all kinds of difficulties are removed from their lives. That is why we are taking many steps to make the lives of mothers, sisters and daughters easier.”
All cluster-level federations registered under Jeevika will become members of the cooperative, giving women associated with self-help groups (SHGs) an alternative to MFIs that often charge 18 to 24 percent interest rates.
The new system will operate fully on a digital platform, ensuring faster and more transparent disbursals directly into the bank accounts of Jeevika Didis. To enable this digital transition, 12,000 community cadres are being equipped with tablets.