‘Jan Samarth’ Platform will be Launched Soon to Deliver Various Schemes

To make life easier for the common man, the government intends to launch 'Jan Samarth,' a common portal for the delivery of various schemes run by various ministries and departments. According to sources, the new portal will initially onboard 15 credit-linked government schemes as part of the Narendra Modi government's vision of minimum government maximum governance.

They added that the offerings will be gradually expanded based on compatibility, as some of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes involve multiple agencies.

Different ministries, for example, administer schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS).

The proposed portal aims to consolidate these schemes on a single platform so that beneficiaries can easily access them. Pilot testing is underway, and loose ends are being tidied up before the official launch, they said, adding that the testing is being carried out by State Bank of India (SBI) and other lenders.

They stated that the portal will have an open architecture, allowing state governments and other institutions to later onboard their schemes on this platform. To help borrowers, the government launched a portal for various credit products in 2018, including MSME, home, auto, and personal loans.

The portal enables various state-owned banks to approve loans in principle for MSMEs and other borrowers in 59 minutes, compared to the previous turnaround time of 20-25 days.

The loan is expected to be disbursed in 7-8 working days after receiving an in-principle approval letter. Until the loan is sanctioned, the portal processes loan applications without human intervention.

For in-principle approval of a loan, any MSME borrower does not need to submit any physical documents. Instead, the portal relies on advanced algorithms to analyze data points from a variety of sources, including income tax returns, GST data, bank statements, and so on.

To check borrowers' eligibility, the platform is integrated with the government's Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE). In the first two months after the portal's launch, state-owned banks approved in principle 1.12 lakh loan applications from micro, small, and medium enterprises, totaling Rs 37,412 crore.