MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Government Seeks Parliamentary Approval for $859m in Spending for Women’s Bank; Women’s Safety; Skills Training; Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs); International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The Indian government reportedly is awaiting the Parliament’s approval to spend an additional INR 54.3 billion (USD 859 million) for several institutions including an additional INR 10 billion (USD 159 million) for each of the following: Nirbhaya Fund, a fund supporting women’s safety in India; National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which is backed by the Indian Ministry of Finance and provides skill training programs to India’s workforce; and to establish a women’s bank in India. The funding for the women’s bank is in addition to the INR 10 billion (USD 159 million) in initial capital that was endowed by government in March 2013, as was reported by MicroCapital at the time. The funding for NSDC is to support youth programming by providing training programs for hardware, networking, structured query language (SQL) server database, e-governance, customer relationship management (CRM), domain and clinical research.

INR 5 billion (USD 78.7 million) is intended to go to the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a development bank in India that aims to aid micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), to establish a credit guarantee fund to share the risk of lenders that fund MSMEs. An additional INR 1 billion (USD 15 million) would be given to the Indian Microfinance Equity Fund of SIDBI to provide equity and quasi-equity investments in microfinance institutions (MFIs).

The spending proposal also would include a loan of INR 18.3 billion (USD 288 million) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a lender that is affiliated with the United Nations.

By Adrija Vaiciulionis, Research Assistant

About Nirbhaya Fund:
Nirbhaya Fund was created by the government of India in 2013. Launched with INR 10 billion (USD 159 million) in budgetary resources, the fund will work with the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to promote women’s safety in India. The Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development, as well as other ministries, reportedly will plan further details of this fund.

About National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC):
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) seeks to improve the Indian workforce by providing skill training to youth and adults. NSDC is a public-private partnership established by the Ministry of Finance and has an equity base of INR 100 million (USD 1.6 million).

About the International Monetary Fund (IMF):
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), part of the United Nations system, is an organization with 186 country-members working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, boost employment, promote sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty around the world. IMF was created after the Second World War to oversee the international monetary system to promote exchange rate stability and encourage members to eliminate exchange restrictions that hinder trade. The mission of IMF is to seek stability by keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member countries and by providing services such as lending to member countries with balance-of-payments difficulties.

About Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI):
Established by the Indian Parliament in 1990, the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) offers products and services in areas including direct finance, international finance, government subsidy and fixed deposits. Its clients include financial institutions, investors and entrepreneurs. SIDBI participates in the Indian microfinance sector by providing credit and capacity building grants to large- and medium-scale microfinance institutions. As of March 2012, SIDBI reported total assets of INR 594 billion (USD 10.9 billion).

Sources and Additional Resources:
Economic Times Article, “Government Seeks Parliament Nod for Additional Rs 7,500 Crore Spending,”
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-23/news/41440592_1_500-crore-rs-100-crore-additional-rs

MicroCapital Article, July 12, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Germany’s Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) Loans $130m to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (MSME),”
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-germanys-kreditanstalt-fur-wiederaufbau-kfw-loans-130m-to-small-industries-development-bank-of-india-sidbi-for-micro-small-and-medium-sized-enterprise-msme/

MicroCapital Article, March 27, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Government Commits $183m Each to Women-Only Bank, Nirbhaya Fund for Women’s Empowerment,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-indian-government-commits-183m-each-to-women-only-bank-nirbhaya-fund-for-womens-empowerment/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Nirbhaya Fund
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Nirbhaya+Fund

MicroCapital Universe Profile: National Skill Development Corporation
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=National+Skill+Development+Corporation+%28NSDC%29

MicroCapital Universe Profile: International Monetary Fund
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=International+Monetary+Fund+%28IMF%29

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Small Industries Development Bank of India
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Small+Industries+Development+Bank+of+India+%28SIDBI%29

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