<span style="color: #222222;">More than 40 crore 82 lakh loans amounting to over 23 lakh crore rupees have been sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana till date. Twenty-one per cent of the total loans have been sanctioned to new entrepreneurs.<br />''<br />''Today is the 8th Anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 with the aim to facilitate easy collateral-free micro-credit of up to ten lakh rupees to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro-entrepreneurs for income-generating activities.<br />''<br />''Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, the scheme has enabled easy and hassle-free access to credit for micro-enterprises and has helped a large number of young entrepreneurs establish their businesses.<br />''<br />''She said, about 68 per cent of accounts under the scheme belong to women entrepreneurs and 51 per cent of accounts belong to entrepreneurs of SC, ST and OBC categories.<br />''<br />''Ms Sitharaman said, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana has helped in the generation of large-scale employment opportunities at the grassroots level and also has proved to be a game changer while boosting the Indian economy.</span><br />