The tribal population of the country stood at 8.43 Crore i.e. 8.2% of the total population as per 2001 census. While the other weaker sections continue to grow moderately in all aspects, the development indices of ST population is much lower in terms of education, health,income etc. To compound this problem this deprived section also suffers from geographical and cultural isolation. With a view to focus on empowerment of Scheduled Tribes, National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation was setup in 2001 for providing concessional financial assistance to STs whose family income is upto Double the Poverty Line income limit.

I have joined NSTFDC as Chairman cum Managing Director with effect from 01.04.09. I am happy to notice that the Corporation in its short span of 8 years have extended a helping hand to over 24 lakhs ST beneficiaries and have sanctioned financial assistance of around Rs. 800 Crore. While this is a noteworthy effort, the Corporation is striving hard for larger coverage of the Scheduled Tribe population.

NSTFDC provides a bouquet of schemes for the economic upliftment of ST beneficiaries. Under the Term Loan scheme financial assistance is extended for schemes costing upto Rs. 10.00 lakhs at concessional interest rate of 6%-8% p.a. chargeable from beneficiaries. One of the flagship programmes of NSTFDC is Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (AMSY) a scheme exclusively meant for empowerment of ST women. Under this financial assistance is extended for schemes costing upto Rs. 50000/- at highly concessional interest rate of 4% p.a. Assistance is also extended to Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the Micro Credit Scheme of NSTFDC. Funding for this scheme is also available through certain PSU banks. The maximum loan extendable under this scheme is Rs. 3.00 lakhs per SHG with a ceiling of Rs. 15000/- per member. The Corporation also runs a Marketing Support Assistance scheme wherein financial assistance is extended for meeting working capital requirement of organizations engaged in procurement/ marketing of Minor Forest Produce and other tribal products.

While my predecessors have sown the seeds of growth the NSTFDC will steadfastly continue its march towards empowerment of Scheduled Tribes. We would put in all efforts for generating greater awareness and understanding of NSTFDC schemes amongst ST population. The Corporation has already made available guidelines in various regional and tribal languages. In the internet era it is important that the information is available at the click of a mouse. This Website has been redesigned so as to make it more user-friendly. This site interalia contains information about NSTFDC schemes as well as Model Project Profiles for ready use. I hope all stakeholders including organizations working at grassroot level for development of Scheduled Tribes would benefit from this site. I would appeal to all concerned to join in our drive for creating greater awareness about NSTFDC schemes amongst the target beneficiaries for their economic upliftment

Please send your Feedback/ suggestions on nstfdc@bol.net.in

                                                                              Gur Saroop Sood, IDAS

                                                              chairman cum Managing Director