Stand-Up India: ₹10 Lakh to ₹1 Crore Loans for SC/ST and Women Entrepreneurs

Stand-Up India exists because of a simple mandate: every scheduled commercial bank branch in the country must finance at least one SC/ST entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur who is setting up a greenfield enterprise. If you belong to either category and are starting your first venture, the bank is obliged to have a door open for you.

The scheme covers composite loans — term loan plus working capital — between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore for greenfield projects in manufacturing, services, trading, and activities allied to agriculture. The enterprise must be your first: greenfield means you have not run a business in the same line before. Non-individual enterprises such as private limited companies also qualify, provided SC/ST or women entrepreneurs hold at least 51% of the shareholding and control.

Terms are deliberately borrower-friendly. The interest rate is capped at the bank's lowest applicable rate for that category of borrower, repayment can stretch up to seven years with a moratorium of up to eighteen months, and the loan can be secured through the CGTMSE guarantee rather than personal collateral where the bank agrees.

The Stand-Up India portal (standupmitra.in) doubles as a handholding ecosystem — it connects you to training centres, DICCI and women's entrepreneur networks, and helps with project report preparation. In Chhattisgarh, the state's Margin Money Subsidy of 25% (up to ₹100 lakh) for special categories can reduce the promoter contribution your project needs.

The most common reason applications stall is a weak project report. Banks approve greenfield ventures on the strength of the projections, not the promoter's track record — so the document has to carry the application.

See how Stand-Up India compares with the other 43 state and central incentives in our complete classification table.

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Sources & Official References

Stand-Up India portal