LAHORE, November 7: Punjab government has on Wednesday decided to launch ‘Punjab Credit Guarantee Scheme’ (PCGS) aimed at providing loans to youth on soft conditions.
Under PCGS, a youth can obtain loan up to Rs3 million. Punjab Minister for Industry and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal stated that initial paper work had been completed whereas Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan will formally launch the scheme soon. He added that women could obtain loans at soft conditions. To acquire loan, the aspirant will submit his business idea with the departmental committee through online application. If committee approves the idea, the amount of the loan will be issued.
Under PCGS, a male aspirant will invest 30pc of the total amount required for initiating business whereas the rest of 70pc would be provided by the provincial government. On the other hand, a female aspirant will invent 20pc of the total amount whereas rest of the 80pc would be provided by the departmental committee.
Once acquired, the borrower would be exempted from paying any installment till 12 months. The loanee will have to return the borrowed amount in five years.
The 3pc markup on amount of loan would be paid by provincial government.
The minister added that govt had acquired Rs550 mln amount for the scheme in the initial phase.
“Universities’ students and entrepreneur can also benefit from the scheme”, minister was quoted as saying.-Agencies
