Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Choose the right scheme

• A bank loan for an SC-owned business: apply for the loan at a member bank or lending institution. The IFCI guarantee is given against that loan.
• A micro or small business loan: NSFDC micro finance, applied for online.
• A larger unit or project: NSFDC term loans, which cover up to 90% of project cost.
• Equity investment: the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes. Its window has closed, and no open call is listed on the Ministry's site.

How applications work

• NSFDC loans are applied for online through the PM SURAJ portal.
• The credit guarantee portal has How to Apply and Application Form pages. Questions about the scheme go to cegssc@ifciltd.com.

Before you apply

• Check the current status on the scheme's portal. The credit guarantee portal shows no open or closing dates.
• Confirm NSFDC's eligibility criteria on its own website.
• Keep shareholding records ready. The guarantee tests Scheduled Caste shareholding over six months, and the equity fund tests it over six or twelve months.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is a Government of India ministry whose work covers the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, and social defence. Its startup-relevant schemes are finance for Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs: a guarantee on bank loans, loans through an associated corporation, and an equity fund whose window has closed.

How programmes work

The Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes gives IFCI's guarantee against loans that member lending banks and institutions make to eligible Scheduled Caste-owned businesses. You apply for the loan at a member lender, and the guarantee is given against that loan. The guarantee runs for up to seven years or the loan's repayment period, whichever is earlier. The scheme's portal says it is sponsored by the Ministry. The portal does not show open or closing dates.

The National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, which the Ministry lists among its associated organisations, lends to Scheduled Caste persons running small and micro businesses. Micro finance is provided through selected NBFC-MFIs at reasonable interest rates. Term loans cover units larger than the micro finance route, and the Udyam Nidhi Yojana covers projects. NSFDC loans cover up to 90% of project cost.

The Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes provides concessional finance to Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs, and it can invest in shares of up to a quarter of its corpus. Its guidelines name IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd as the fund's asset. The Ambedkar Social Innovation Incubation Mission is funded from the same fund. Technology Business Incubators select the ideas it supports, and its funding covers the cost of operating and maintaining an incubated idea for three years, subject to satisfactory progress. The guidelines ran from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026, and no renewal appears on the Ministry's schemes page.

Who can apply

Ownership is the test in most of these schemes. The guarantee requires more than 51% shareholding by Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs, promoters or members with management control, held for the past six months. The equity fund requires at least 51%, held for six months for smaller tickets and twelve months above a set threshold. The equity fund also gives priority to women and disabled Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs. The guarantee is open to registered companies and societies, registered partnership firms, sole proprietorships and individual Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs. NSFDC loans are open to eligible Scheduled Caste persons. Check NSFDC's own eligibility page before applying, because the full criteria are not set out here.

Who runs it

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. Its website names the body both as the Ministry and as the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment. NSFDC delivers the loan schemes, IFCI runs the guarantee, and IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd is the named asset of the equity fund.

Locations

The Ministry's office is at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 110001. The equity fund is implemented throughout the country.