Chairman of 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee Lanka Dinakar chairing a review meeting with officials of SERP and MEPMA on September 3, 2025.
Chairman of the 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee Lanka Dinakar on Wednesday (September 3, 2025) said loans to the tune of ₹35,000 crore to ₹40,000 crore were being given annually to members of the women Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
Speaking at a review meeting with senior officials of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA), Mr. Dinakar said legal cases were filed against those responsible for fake loans, including the erring officials. To prevent duplicate membership and fake groups, biometric authentication linked to Aadhaar had been introduced, ensuring unique IDs for both groups and members.
Pointing to the new ‘Mana dabbulu-Mana Lekka’ app introduced in April this year, he said it enabled the SHG members to track their loans and repayment details on their mobile phones.
Referring to the alleged irregularities in loans issued to the SHGs between 2019-2024 during the tenure of the YSR Congress Party, he said it had come to light that over ₹3 crore was fraudulently availed of in Anakapalli district in the name of fake SHGs. He said the women, whose names were misused, were now unable to repay the loans and facing difficulties in accessing new credit.
He said on probing the irregularities by the SERP authorities, it was found that during 2019-24, fake SHGs siphoned off ₹37.51 crore in the rural areas, and of this amount, ₹10.65 crore was recovered while ₹26.86 crore remained outstanding.
In Anakapalli district alone, loans worth ₹2.86 crore were misused by 53 groups across six villages. Kakinada district reported the largest diversion with ₹18.78 crore, of which ₹7 crore was recovered, he said.
As per MEPMA findings, ₹18.55 crore was diverted through 98 fake SHGs in the urban areas, and the largest misuse was in Gudivada in Krishna district (₹6.30 crore), followed by Ongole in Prakasam district (₹5.98 crore through 42 groups), Kakinada (₹4.68 crore through 39 SHGs), and Anantapur (₹1.59 crore through 17 groups).
Managing Director of Stree Nidhi (SERP) Hari Prasad and Director MEPMA N. Tej Bharat were present at the review meeting.
Published – September 04, 2025 05:57 am IST
