Stand-Up India: Business Loans for SC/ST and Women Entrepreneurs

Stand-Up India is a Government of India scheme designed to help Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and women entrepreneurs access institutional credit to start a new business. It's implemented through scheduled commercial banks, with every bank branch expected to support at least one SC/ST borrower and one woman borrower under the scheme.

Loan amount and structure

The scheme provides composite loans (combining a term loan and working capital) ranging from ₹10 lakh up to ₹1 crore. The exact amount depends on your project cost and the bank's assessment of viability — there's no fixed entitlement, but the range gives a sense of the scheme's intended scale, which is notably larger than Mudra's ceiling.

Who is eligible

• Individuals above 18 years of age who are women, or belong to the SC or ST category
• The venture must be a greenfield project — a genuinely new business, not an expansion of an existing one
• For non-individual enterprises (partnerships, companies), at least 51% of the controlling stake must be held by an eligible woman or SC/ST entrepreneur
• No existing default history with any bank or financial institution

Margin and repayment terms

Borrowers are typically expected to contribute a margin (commonly cited around 10-15% of the project cost), which can in some cases be supplemented through convergence with other government schemes. Repayment tenure runs up to 7 years, with a moratorium period of up to 18 months before repayment begins.

Why this scheme matters

Stand-Up India sits in a useful gap: above what Mudra typically covers, but more specifically targeted than a general business loan. For a first-time SC/ST or women entrepreneur with a solid business plan but no track record or assets to pledge, it's often one of the most realistic paths to meaningful starting capital.