Maharashtra MUDRA loan overdues cross Rs 6,700 crore, up Rs 1,120 crore in a year

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Outstanding dues under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana in Maharashtra rose sharply to Rs 6,736.6 crore by the end of March this year, an increase of Rs 1,120 crore over the previous year's Rs 5,616 crore, according to data presented before the state-level bankers' committee.Despite the rise in overdue amounts, the share of bad loans has remained largely stable at around 11%, a trend attributed to the continued flow of fresh loan disbursements under the scheme, the bankers said.The highest stress is visible in the Shishu category, which provides loans of up to Rs 50,000. While 21.7 lakh beneficiaries received loans amounting to Rs 4,237.1 crore, dues worth Rs 1,313 crore in this segment have remained unpaid for over a year, indicating weak repayment capacity among the smallest borrowers.In the Kishor category, covering loans between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh, total disbursements stand at Rs 25,517 crore, with Rs 3,247 crore classified as overdue, reflecting growing stress among mid-sized borrowers.The Tarun category, which offers loans up to Rs 10 lakh, has seen disbursements of Rs 2,084 crore. An extended Tarun segment with loans up to Rs 20 lakh has recorded lending of Rs 2,620 crore, with overdues limited to Rs 80 crore. Officials said the lower stress here is due to the category's recent rollout and smaller loan volumes.Urban centres continue to account for a significant share of overdues. Pune reported the highest outstanding overdue at Rs 699 crore, followed by Mumbai at Rs 546 crore and Nagpur at Rs 474 crore.All India Bank Employees Association joint secretary and former Bank of Maharashtra director Devidas Tuljapurkar said the MUDRA scheme has strong potential for employment generation, but warned that lending has increasingly become target-driven. "Without proper market assessment, supply chain evaluation and borrower training, loans disbursed under pressure risk turning bad," he said.Tuljapurkar also cautioned that reported NPAs may not reflect the full extent of stress, alleging that restructuring and rescheduling could be masking underlying problems that may surface later.Banking experts noted that while MUDRA loan disbursements continue to rise year after year, there is limited evidence of a matching increase in new enterprises. Instead, additional credit appears to be flowing to existing borrowers, adding to overdue burdens and raising concerns about the scheme's long-term impact.