Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to attend Credit Outreach Programme at Madhubani district in Bihar

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend a Credit Outreach Programme at Madhubani district in Bihar, today. During the event, she will interact with beneficiaries of various government schemes.

On the second and final day of her visit, the Minister will distribute loan sanction letters worth over 1,000 crore rupees to beneficiaries from Self Help Groups, employment generation, and other sectors.

The Minister will also meet artisans, craftswomen, and Padma Awardees at the Mithila Chitrakala Sansthan at Saurath in Madhubani. Earlier, she visited Mithila Haat in Jhanjharpur, where she interacted with artists, craftsmen, and shopkeepers at the site.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has directed Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to increase their involvement at the grass-root level in agriculture and allied sectors by boosting loan disbursements. During a review meeting in Patna, she urged eight RRBs from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal to focus



on allied agricultural activities such as dairy, animal husbandry, and fisheries.

Ms. Sitharaman also emphasized the need for RRBs to accelerate technology upgrades to improve efficiency and service delivery. She stressed the importance of a saturation drive to increase subscriptions to the three Social Security (Jan Suraksha) schemes.

The Union Minister urged state governments to support banks in boosting credit flow to women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs). She also suggested that NABARD and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to assist SHGs in transforming into self-reliant enterprises.

The review meeting focused on business performance, digital technology upgrades, and fostering growth in agriculture-related activities and micro and small industries. Ms. Sitharaman called for increased credit disbursement under key government schemes like MUDRA and PM Vishwakarma, with support from sponsor banks.