In a bid to cater to needs and aspirations of the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) under the agriculture ministry has launched a youth-friendly scheme ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme’ for attracting them to cooperative business ventures. It will be linked to NCDC’s Cooperative Startup and Innovation Fund (CSIF) that has an annual corpus of Rs 1000 crore.
The scheme would have more incentives for cooperatives of North Eastern region, aspirational districts and cooperatives with women members, schedule castes, schedule tribes or people with disabilities. The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories as against 70% for others. The scheme envisages 2% less than the applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project cost up to Rs 3 crore including 2 years moratorium on payment of principal. All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible. This scheme is expected to meet the needs of today’s youth.
The NCDC, being the most preferred financial institution in the world of cooperatives, has embarked on Sahakar 22, a Mission for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022. It has the unique distinction of being the sole statutory organisation functioning as an apex financial and developmental institution exclusively devoted to cooperative sector. It supports cooperatives in diverse fields apart from agriculture and allied sectors.