Uttarakhand govt to pay 2% interest on loans availed by small-scale businesses

The Uttarakhand Cabinet on Thursday decided to lend a helping hand in payment of interest on loans availed for setting up small-scale businesses under the Mukhya Mantri Swarojgar Yojana. As per the Cabinet's decision, the state government will pay 2 per cent interest without guarantee on loans taken by people from co-operative banks to set up business stalls on handcarts, state government spokesman and minister Madan Kaushik told reporters. In the first phase, over 50,000 people availing loans from co-operative banks for such purposes will be benefitted from the decision, he said.

Similarly, under the motorcycle-taxi scheme, the state government will pay the interest for two years on loans of up to Rs 60,000 taken by 20,000 people from co-operative banks in the first phase, Kaushik said. In another decision, the Cabinet gave its nod to construction of an ethanol plant on PPP mode at Bajpur in Udham Singh Nagar district. The Cabinet also authorised the Chief Minister to manage the funds for creating facilities for saints and seers in view of Haridwar Mahakumbh 2021. The Cabinet also permitted private and state-owned buses to double their fares as they had to ply at half their seating capacity in compliance with social distancing norms.

(Image credits: PTI)