Stand-Up India Scheme

Stand-Up India Scheme

Supports socially underrepresented founders in India with blended term and working capital loans for new greenfield enterprises.

The Stand-Up India Scheme is a Government of India initiative administered through the banking system — with SIDBI playing a coordination and facilitation role — designed to extend composite bank loans to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and women entrepreneurs establishing greenfield enterprises. The scheme targets underrepresented founders who face structural barriers to formal credit, providing a single composite loan covering both term credit and working capital within a ticket range of INR 10 lakh to INR 1 crore per borrower. Each bank branch is mandated to extend at least one Stand-Up India loan to an SC or ST borrower and at least one to a woman borrower.

Eligibility is tightly defined: the borrower must be an individual SC, ST, or woman entrepreneur (or a non-individual enterprise in which SC/ST or women shareholders hold at least 51% stake and controlling interest). The enterprise must be a greenfield venture — i.e., a first-time enterprise in manufacturing, services, or trading. Loans are composite instruments combining term loan for capital expenditure and working capital as cash credit, offered at base rate plus three percent plus tenor premium. Repayment tenor runs up to seven years, with a maximum moratorium of 18 months. Collateral coverage by the Credit Guarantee Fund for Stand-Up India Loans (CGFSIL) is available to reduce lender risk.

SIDBI facilitates and monitors the scheme nationally but loan disbursement occurs via scheduled commercial banks (public and private sector) and Regional Rural Banks. Founders seeking access should approach their lead district bank or use the Stand-Up India online portal (standupmitra.in) to identify nearest participating branches. The scheme is sector-agnostic for eligible entity types, covering manufacturing, services, and trading, and runs on a rolling basis with no fixed application deadline.