4 commercial banks and Youth Council move ahead to improve Subsidized loan disbursement in agriculture, entrepreneurship and self-employment

Ministry of Youth and Sports and National Youth Council (NYC) has signed MoU with Nepal Bank, Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank and NMB Bank regarding the subsidized loan and interest subsidy to promote youth entrepreneurship and self-employment in Nepal. The second amendment of Unified Procedure, 2076 issued by Finance Ministry has been introduced to made the system more smooth and easier to access.

The program was attended by Finance Minister, Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada; Executive VP of NYC, Madhav Dhungel; CEO of Rastriya Banijya Bank, Kiran Kumar Shrestha; CEO of Nepal Bank, Krishna Bahadur Adhikari; CEO of Agriculture Development Bank, Anil Kumar Upadhyaya; Chairman of NMB Bank, Pawan Golyan; CEO of NMB Bank, Sunil KC and other distinguished personnel.

Each of the banks' representatives presented their progress so far on subsidized loans floated to the agricultural sector and interest subsidy provided to various loans specified by the Government. The speakers highlighted, although the funds had been allocated they haven't been enough and haven't reached the parts of our country where the funds' requirement is the highest. Therefore, on the joint coordination of NYC and the Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs), various counseling sessions and training will be organized.

The banks' highlighted that most of the loans got rejected due to the lack of documents and a strong business plan. Taking this lesson in mind, the counselling will be provided and will be one-day long. In addition to that, 7-days training will be provided to help the prospective borrowers prepare an actionable business plan and other practical skills required.

Finance Minister Khatiwada pointed out the importance of a healthy relationship between the Government and the BFIs. He said, "We have a lot of funds. Each Ministry has funds created for a certain purpose and most often they don't land on the right hands. So the government shouldn't try to be a banker. It should be a facilitator and make policies. Being a banker will take just one more syllable and become Bankrupt."