New Delhi (IANS) The government here on Friday said the Stand-up India Scheme will benefit 2.5 lakh Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe members and women entrepreneurs.

“The scheme envisages extending bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore for setting up greenfield enterprises by SC/ST and women entrepreneurs,” Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5 this year.

“The scheme is being implemented through all scheduled commercial banks. Each bank branch is to extend loans to at least one SC/ST and one women entrepreneur. Enterprises covered under the scheme may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector,” Sinha said.

While loans are to be extended by banks, a credit guarantee fund of Rs.5,000 crore for providing guarantee cover for such loans has been approved. Provision of initial capital of Rs.500 crore to the corpus in 2016-17 has been made, he said.