The fine print of Mudra Bank

Abstract

If the bank is to be funded through non-budgetary support in the mechanism outlined by Jaitley, it is financially challenged from inception. The rural development ministry has been lobbying hard with the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to promote a developmental financial institution (DFI) for re-financing the women’s self-help group (SHG) movement to dovetail with its flagship programme—the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. One of the unintended consequences of this lobbying was the setting up of Bharatiya Mahila Bank. However, the proposals to have a new refinance agency have been consistently shot down both by the finance ministry and RBI, possibly with good reason—why do we need to add a new institution, when existing institutions such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) can do the job?. Read more at: https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZrYk3jP5eoCrhSfo3Pi1LP/The-fine-print-of-Mudra-Bank.html