Virasat Credit Scheme for Craftspersons:

Virasat, a credit Scheme for craftspersons comes under the National minorities development and corporation. The main work of the Virasat – A Credit Scheme For Craftspersons is to provide machines and tools to the artisans and craftsmen to meet their goals in the marketplace and earn more profit to become financially strong. Craftsmen are the skilled workers who can make different types of decorative crafts by using fabric, bamboo, soil etc. 

Benefits of the scheme:

• Under the scheme, a maximum loan limit of Rs. 10 lac can be obtained.
• Interest rates are 1% lower than those charged under the term loan plan (offered by NMDFC).
• In addition, women artists are eligible for a 1% loan rebate.
• Hunar Haat Exhibitions are held by the NMDFC to promote traditional crafts. This gives artists a place to sell and receive orders for their objects.

The beneficiary of the scheme:

Artisans or craftsmen belonging to the minority communities like Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis can avail benefits of the Virasat credit scheme. The scheme will be organised by the state channelizing agency (SCA) of the National minorities development and corporation.

Eligibility:

The artisans or craftsmen having an annual income of 81000 per year in the rural areas and the artisans having an annual income of 1.03 lacs in the urban areas are eligible for the scheme. National minority development and corporations frequently organise the Hunar Haats so the artisans who participate in these Hunar haats will be given preferences.

Purpose of the Virasat scheme loan:

The purpose of the Virasat scheme by providing loans to the artisans and the craftsmen is to avail both working capital and fixed capital requirement. So that they can set up their factories and equipment required for making crafts.

The margin of State channelizing agency and artisans:

The maximum amount of the loan under the Virasat scheme will be 10 lakh rupees. In this scheme, 90 per cent of the loan amount will be given by the NMDFC and the remaining 10 per cent is given by the state channelizing agency and artisan.

Moratorium Period:

When the loan amount is sanctioned by the NMDFC then the state channelizing agency has three months’ time to use the amount and the artisans are given a 6 months time period to set up their units. The artisan has to pay back the principal amount of the loan in the next quarter.

Rate of interest:

The rate of interest given by the NMDFC will be 5 per cent per annum for the male artisans and will be 4 per cent per annum for the female artisan. Also for the state channelizing Agency rate of interest will be 3 per cent per annum for male artisan and 2 per cent per annum for female artisan.

Repayment of the loan:

After the moratorium period, the artisans have to pay back the loan on a quarterly basis for 5 years. And the state channelizing agency has to pay back the loan in 8 years.

Security of the loan:

• For the loan amount, up to 1 lakh rupees self guarantee and the post-dated cheques are needed as security. 
• For the loan amount from 1 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees guarantee of the government employees like PSU/Banks etc are needed and the post-dated cheques are needed as a security deposit. 
• For the loan amount of 5 lakh and more the guarantee of two government employees like PSU/Bank etc are needed and the post-dated cheques are needed. Or the mortgage of non-movable property for the same value of loan amount will be needed as security.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have learned the benefits of the Virasat credit scheme for craftsmen. In this scheme, the craftsman is provided with a loan amount of up to 10 lakh rupees to set up their units and purchase the equipment required to make the crafts. The minorities are the beneficiary of the scheme. The Virasat scheme works under the NMDFC(National Financial Development and Financial Corporation.