What is the primary objective of the 'Standup India' initiative?
- (a)To promote digital transactions nationwide
- (b)To support all types of startups
- (c)To facilitate bank loans for SC/ST and women entrepreneurs
- (d)To boost the manufacturing sector
Answer
Why
Correct — C. Stand Up India, launched on 5 April 2016, is defined by who borrows, not by what sector the money goes into.
Every scheduled commercial bank branch is expected to fund at least one Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one woman borrower.
The loan runs from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore and must set up a greenfield enterprise — the borrower's first venture, not an existing business.
That borrower group and that purpose are exactly what option (c) states.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)To promote digital transactions nationwide — Nationwide digital payments are the business of Digital India and of UPI. Stand Up India moves credit to named borrower groups and says nothing about how a transaction is settled.
- (b)To support all types of startups — Startup India is the separate programme aimed at startups in general. Stand Up India is narrower — SC/ST and women borrowers, a first venture, and a defined loan band.
- (d)To boost the manufacturing sector — Make in India is the manufacturing push. Stand Up India funds greenfield units in services and trading as well, so naming one sector misses the condition the scheme actually turns on.
Concept
India's flagship credit schemes are easiest to hold apart by who they lend to and how much.
Stand Up India (2016) targets SC/ST and women entrepreneurs with loans of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore for a first venture.
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (2015) lends far smaller sums, without collateral, to non-corporate non-farm micro enterprises, graded as Shishu, Kishore and Tarun.
Both are run through banks under the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, rather than paid out as a direct benefit transfer.
The word to hold on to is greenfield. Stand Up India does not refinance a business already running, so any option describing general support for enterprises is describing a different scheme.
The paper prints the name as 'Standup India'; the scheme's own spelling is Stand Up India.
Key facts
- Stand Up India was launched on 5 April 2016.
- It facilitates bank loans of between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore to at least one SC or ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch.
- The loan must fund a greenfield enterprise, meaning the borrower's first venture in manufacturing, services or trading.
- Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, launched in 2015, is the separate scheme for collateral-free micro-enterprise loans.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading 'Stand Up' and 'Start Up' as one programme. The first names its borrowers, the second names its firms.
- Treating the scheme as sector-specific. It is defined by who borrows, not by what is produced.
- Forgetting the greenfield condition, which rules out a loan to a business already trading.
SSC sets the flagship schemes by their one defining condition — the borrower group, the loan ceiling or the sector.
Compare 24 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.17, which asks which scheme extends collateral-free loans of up to ₹10 lakh through Member Lending Institutions, keyed to Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.
The same shape appears at 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.10, on the pension scheme for unorganised workers.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.