The Union Cabinet approved the “Stand Up India Scheme” to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, on an average one for each category of entrepreneur. It is expected to benefit at least 2.5 lakh borrowers. The scheme’s overall intent is to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to these under-served sectors of the population by facilitating bank loans repayable up to 7 years and between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 100 lakh for greenfield enterprises in the non farm sector set up by such SC, ST and Women borrowers.
The “Start up India Stand up India” initiative was announced by the Prime Minister in his address to the nation on 15th August, 2015. The Stand up India component is anchored by Department of Financial Services (DFS) to encourage greenfield enterprises by SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs.   The Stand Up India scheme provides for creation of a credit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).

The scheme provides for handholding support for borrowers both at the pre loan stage and during operations. This would include increasing their familiarity with factoring services, registration with online platforms and e-market places as well as sessions on best practices and problem solving; Refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs. 10,000 crore;
Margin money of the composite loan would be up to 25%; Convergence with state schemes is expected to reduce the actual requirement of margin money for a number of borrowers. More important, the Stand Up India scheme, by focusing on entrepreneurship, enables creativity that may not be defined by academic qualifications but one that should result in productive work.