CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K Selvaperunthagai on Sunday demanded a white paper from the Union government on the number of Mudra loans disbursed in Tamil Nadu in the 2023-24 financial year.
Stating that the statistics presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman without evidence regarding the disbursal of Mudra loans was 'shocking', Selvaperunthagai said that the Union minister must immediately release a white paper on the number of Mudra loans disbursed in the state in 2023-24 and the district-wise break up of the volume of loans disbursed in the state.
“If the FM fails to do it, she would suffer the ignominy of deceiving not only the people of Tamil Nadu, but the whole country,” he added.
Taking a strong exception to the statement of Sitaraman in the Coimbatore conference that loans to the tune of Rs 29.67 lakh crore were disbursed to 49.5 crore Mudra account holders, the TNCC chief said that the MSME entrepreneurs who attended the conference were shocked by the claim of the union minister that Mudra loans to the tune of Rs 3 lakh crore was disbursed to 5.6 crore Mudra account holders in Tamil Nadu, including 20 lakh account holders in Coimbatore who had ‘received’ Rs 13,180 crore.
“People gathered there (Coimbatore conference) could not believe the claim that about 5.6 crore people of the nearly eight crore population of the state have received Mudra loans and 20 lakh of the 35 lakh people in Coimbatore have received Mudra loans,” the TNCC chief said.
Minister Sitaraman has reiterated her arrogance by daringly making the statement, Selvaperunthagai said.
Citing the 2011 census which put the population of Coimbatore at 41.43 lakh and the number of families in the country at 31 crore, the TNCC chief said that one could only describe the statement of the union minister that 20 lakh people in Coimbatore and 49.5 crore in the country have received Mudra loans as a lie.