10,244 entrepreneurs have proposed projects for startup enterprise loans. The Industrial Business Development Foundation had issued a 21-day notice on 19 Kartik inviting project proposals for startup enterprise loans.

Umesh Gupta, executive director and engineer of the foundation, said that 2,041 entrepreneurs have registered project proposals at the foundation. ‘8,203 people have registered proposals online,’ he said.

This is the third time that the foundation is going to provide startup enterprise loans. The government has allocated a budget of Rs 730 million to provide startup loans for the current fiscal year. Of this, 25 percent should be allocated for loan security (insurance), but this year, 10 percent will be enough, said Executive Director Gupta.

‘Earlier, 25 percent was allocated for the loan security fund. Since there have been no problems in disbursing loans in the past two years and interest has started coming in, 10 percent has been allocated this year,’ he said. The foundation has stated that the remaining amount will be disbursed after deducting 3 percent for administrative expenses from the budget. Earlier, the foundation was disbursing loans from a minimum of Rs 5 lakh to a maximum of Rs 2.5 lakh to entrepreneurs. However, this year, due to the budget being less, it will disburse loans from a minimum of Rs 5 lakh to a maximum of Rs 2 million. 

Entrepreneurs who are registered as private firms, partnership firms, companies or cooperatives with the relevant industry registration bodies, have high growth potential through transformation into an enterprise business by using innovative and creative thinking and technology in the production of goods or services, have adopted technology, have not exceeded 10 years since the enterprise business was registered, have not exceeded 150 million rupees in any financial year after registration, and have started a new enterprise business without merging or splitting an existing enterprise business will be eligible for startup loans.

Loans will be provided in the areas related to agriculture and livestock, forest products, tourism promotion and entertainment and hospitality, science, technology, information and communication, human health services, education and teaching and learning, automobiles, traditional technology, process improvement of production and service delivery, household or daily living, food production and processing, easy and safe transportation and transit services, mining and mineral research and development.

The proposal that scores the highest among the proposals that receive more than 50 percent of the points received after credit appraisal by the bank will be prioritized and recommended for loan. The evaluation committee formed by the foundation will evaluate the proposal based on the presentation of the selected projects and the photos, videos, financial statements and other details of the proposers' business and the questions and answers of the evaluation committee.

The total score will be calculated by adding the average score of the evaluation committee of the proposers who attended the presentation and the score received after credit appraisal by the bank. The evaluation committee will prioritize the proposal that receives the highest score among the proposals that receive at least 50 percent of the points and submit the loan recommendation list to the executive director of the foundation for approval.

In the last fiscal year 2081/82, the government allocated 1 billion rupees for startup loan disbursement, but 886.62 million rupees were disbursed. The foundation's administrative expenses amounted to 3 percent of the allocated budget, while 25 percent was kept in the deposit and loan security fund for loan security (insurance).