Stand-Up India Scheme in 2026: Loan Limits, Eligibility, How to Apply and What Happens Next

Stand-Up India is the bank loan scheme meant for one specific group of first-time founders: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs, and women. It promised a loan of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore from any scheduled commercial bank branch to set up a new enterprise. This guide explains exactly how the scheme works, who qualifies, how the margin money and interest cap operate, how to apply through Stand-Up Mitra, a worked example in rupees, and — the question most pages dodge — what its status is in 2026 after its approved period ended. Everything was checked against the Department of Financial Services, Stand-Up Mitra and the Budget speeches as of October 2026.

Quick answer

Stand-Up India gives SC/ST and women entrepreneurs (18+) a composite bank loan of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore — about 85% of project cost — for a first-time (greenfield) venture in manufacturing, services, trading or agri-allied activity, repayable over 7 years with up to 18 months moratorium.

• You bring at least 10%; the scheme envisages 15% margin money through state or central subsidies

• Interest is not subsidised — it is capped at MCLR + 3% + tenor premium

• The approved scheme period ended on 31 March 2025; a revamp was announced in March 2026 but not yet notified

• A separate scheme for first-time women/SC/ST entrepreneurs with loans up to ₹2 crore was announced in Budget 2025-26

What Stand-Up India is

The Union Cabinet approved Stand-Up India in January 2016 and it was launched in April that year. The idea was simple: every branch of every scheduled commercial bank should finance at least one SC or ST borrower and at least one woman borrower setting up a new enterprise. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Ministry of Finance owns the scheme; SIDBI runs the Stand-Up Mitra portal that connects applicants with banks and with "handholding" agencies for training, project reports and registrations.

It is not a subsidy scheme. You get an ordinary bank loan on somewhat easier terms — a guaranteed ticket size, a capped interest rate, a long repayment period with a moratorium, and the option of guarantee cover instead of collateral. Any capital subsidy comes from other central or state schemes that you combine with it, which the guidelines call "convergence".

The scheme reached a lot of people. DFS reports that by 28 February 2025, 2.67 lakh loan accounts had been sanctioned for ₹60,504 crore, of which about ₹34,450 crore had been disbursed, and that 1.99 lakh of the borrowers were women.

Stand-Up India at a glance

₹10 lakh–₹1 crore

Composite loan size

7 years

Repayment period

incl. up to 18 months moratorium

2.67 lakh

Loans sanctioned

to 28 Feb 2025

31 March 2025

Approved period ended

Status in 2026: expired, revamp pending

This matters before you spend money on a project report. The DFS scheme page states that Stand-Up India was valid until 31 March 2025. On 16 March 2026, answering questions in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that the scheme had ended in March 2025 and said it was being redrafted after studies by NITI Aayog and other departments, with a proposal to go to the Union Cabinet soon. She said the government was looking at various options to give beneficiaries more.

Separately, the Budget speech for 2025-26 (paragraph 32) announced a new scheme for five lakh women, SC and ST first-time entrepreneurs, offering term loans of up to ₹2 crore over five years, with online capacity building in entrepreneurship and managerial skills, and said it would "incorporate lessons from the successful Stand-Up India scheme". The DFS page lists this as the successor. As of October 2026 we could not find a Cabinet approval, guidelines or a launch notification for either the revamped Stand-Up India or the first-time entrepreneurs scheme. The Budget for 2026-27, presented on 1 February 2026, did not add new details.

What this means in practice:

• Existing Stand-Up India loans continue on their sanctioned terms; repayment schedules, moratoriums and guarantee cover don't lapse because the scheme window closed.
• New applications depend on the bank. Some branches may still use the Stand-Up India product framework, others will route you to their regular MSME loan products. Ask the branch in writing which scheme your loan is sanctioned under.
• When the revamped scheme arrives, expect a higher ceiling and possibly new eligibility rules. Keep your project report ready so you can apply quickly.

We will update this page when the new scheme is notified.

Who is eligible

The Stand-Up Mitra scheme page sets out the conditions:

• Who: SC or ST entrepreneurs, and women entrepreneurs, above 18 years of age. A man qualifies only if he is SC or ST.
• First venture only: the loan is for a greenfield project — your first enterprise in manufacturing, services, agri-allied activities or trading. Expanding an existing business is not covered.
• Companies, LLPs and partnerships: at least 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake must be held by SC/ST and/or women entrepreneurs. A woman holding 51% in name while someone else runs the business is the kind of arrangement banks probe.
• Clean credit: you must not be in default to any bank or financial institution. A poor CIBIL history is the most common reason for refusal; see our CIBIL score guide if you need to repair yours first.

Trading is a permitted sector, and agri-allied activities such as dairy, poultry, fisheries, food processing and beekeeping are allowed. Pure crop farming is not an enterprise for this purpose.

Loan terms: size, margin money, interest and security

Composite loan. The loan covers both the term loan for machinery, equipment, fit-out or vehicles and the working capital, in one sanction, between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore. It is expected to cover 85% of the project cost; that expectation falls away if your own money plus subsidies already exceed 15%.

Margin money and your own share. The scheme envisages 15% margin money, which can come from convergence with eligible central or state schemes — for example a state SC/ST entrepreneur subsidy or a women's enterprise scheme. Whatever subsidies you get, you must still bring at least 10% of the project cost yourself. Banks check this money is really yours, so keep it in your account well before sanction.

Interest rate. The rate is the bank's lowest applicable rate for your rating category, and it must not exceed the bank's MCLR plus 3% plus a tenor premium. Because MCLRs differ, so do rates; compare at least two banks.

Working capital. Up to ₹10 lakh of working capital can be sanctioned as an overdraft, with a RuPay debit card for convenience. Above that, banks sanction a cash-credit limit.

Security. Besides the primary security — the assets the loan creates — the bank may take collateral or obtain cover under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Stand-Up India Loans (CGFSIL), run by NCGTC. Which one you face is the bank's decision.

Repayment. Up to 7 years, including a moratorium of up to 18 months. Interest usually has to be paid during the moratorium even when instalments haven't started.

Stand-Up India vs Mudra vs PMEGP

	Stand-Up India	Mudra (PMMY)	PMEGP
Who	SC/ST and women only	Any non-farm micro enterprise	Any individual 18+ (new unit)
Loan size	₹10 lakh–₹1 crore	Up to ₹20 lakh	Project up to ₹50 lakh (mfg) / ₹20 lakh (service)
New or existing	New (greenfield) only	New and existing	New only (plus upgradation loan)
Subsidy	None built in; convergence allowed	None	15%–35% margin money subsidy
Status	Window closed 31 Mar 2025; revamp pending	Running	See PMEGP guide

Who

Stand-Up India

SC/ST and women only

Mudra (PMMY)

Any non-farm micro enterprise

PMEGP

Any individual 18+ (new unit)

Loan size

Stand-Up India

₹10 lakh–₹1 crore

Mudra (PMMY)

Up to ₹20 lakh

PMEGP

Project up to ₹50 lakh (mfg) / ₹20 lakh (service)

New or existing

Stand-Up India

New (greenfield) only

Mudra (PMMY)

New and existing

PMEGP

New only (plus upgradation loan)

Subsidy

Stand-Up India

None built in; convergence allowed

Mudra (PMMY)

None

PMEGP

15%–35% margin money subsidy

Status

Stand-Up India

Window closed 31 Mar 2025; revamp pending

Mudra (PMMY)

Running

PMEGP

See PMEGP guide

Worked example in ₹

Meena, a first-time woman entrepreneur in Indore, plans a beauty and bridal studio. Her project cost is ₹40 lakh: ₹30 lakh for fit-out and equipment and ₹10 lakh working capital.

• Own contribution (10%): ₹4,00,000
• State women-entrepreneur margin support (convergence, 5%): ₹2,00,000, if she qualifies for one
• Bank loan (85%): ₹34,00,000 — say ₹26 lakh term loan and ₹8 lakh working capital as an overdraft
• Moratorium: 18 months. At 10% a year, interest on the ₹26 lakh term loan is about ₹21,667 a month during this period.
• EMI afterwards: the term loan repaid over the remaining 66 months at 10% works out to about ₹51,375 a month.

If no convergence subsidy is available, Meena would need to put in ₹6 lakh herself so the loan stays at 85%, or accept a smaller loan. Run your own numbers in the EMI calculator, check what you can borrow with the loan eligibility calculator and build the cost sheet in the startup cost calculator.

A second example: an SC entrepreneur in rural Odisha setting up a ₹12 lakh flour mill. Own share ₹1.2 lakh, bank loan about ₹10.2 lakh — just above the ₹10 lakh floor. A project smaller than about ₹11.8 lakh would fall below the minimum loan, and a Mudra loan or PMEGP would fit better.

How to apply

Applicants could go to a bank branch directly, apply through the Stand-Up Mitra portal (standupmitra.in), or approach through the Lead District Manager (LDM) of their district. When we checked in October 2026, the portal's scheme pages still loaded but its home page returned an application error, so a visit to your branch is the most reliable route while the revamp is pending.

Applying for a Stand-Up India style loan

1. 1

   Confirm the bank is still sanctioning under the scheme

   Visit the branch manager or the MSME loan desk and ask whether new loans are sanctioned under Stand-Up India or a regular MSME product, and on what terms.

2. 2

   Register on Stand-Up Mitra (if available)

   Answer the questions on category, business location, type of activity and whether you need handholding. The portal routes your request to banks and support agencies.

   Stand-Up Mitra scheme details
3. 3

   Get handholding if you need it

   Ask for help with training, project report preparation, Udyam registration, licences and identifying convergence subsidies from DIC or state agencies.

4. 4

   Prepare the project report

   Show realistic sales, costs, machinery quotations, premises arrangement and repayment capacity. Banks reject reports with copied numbers.

5. 5

   Submit documents and attend the appraisal

   The bank checks KYC, caste or gender eligibility, credit history, quotations and your own contribution, and may visit the site.

6. 6

   Sanction and disbursement

   Term loan is usually paid directly to suppliers; the overdraft or cash-credit limit is set up for working capital.

Documents required

The exact list varies by bank, but expect the following.

Documents to keep ready

0/9

• Aadhaar, PAN, photographs and address proof of the applicant (and all partners/directors)
• Caste certificate from the competent authority (SC/ST applicants)
• Partnership deed, LLP agreement or MoA/AoA showing 51% SC/ST/women holding (non-individuals)
• Project report with cost, means of finance, sales and cash-flow projections
• Quotations for machinery and equipment; rent agreement or ownership papers for premises
• Proof of own contribution (bank statement)
• Udyam registration and GST registration where applicable
• Any subsidy sanction letters under convergence schemes
• Bank statements for the last 6–12 months and income tax returns if available

Share Print

Udyam registration is free and often asked for at sanction; get it early.

Planning the project so the bank says yes

Most Stand-Up India files are decided on the project report, so spend your effort there. Size the project to what the business genuinely needs rather than to the scheme ceiling: a branch is more comfortable lending ₹25 lakh against a well-documented beauty studio than ₹1 crore against an optimistic one. List every capital item with a dated quotation, and separate the one-time costs (fit-out, machinery, deposits) from the monthly ones (rent, salaries, power, raw material).

Work out your working capital from your business cycle, not as a round number. A garment unit that buys fabric for cash and sells to retailers on 60-day credit needs far more working capital than a salon paid in cash daily. Banks calculate this themselves, and a report that matches their logic gets through faster.

Use the moratorium properly. Eighteen months is the maximum, not an automatic entitlement, and the bank will set it according to how long the unit takes to start earning. Show a month-by-month plan for the first two years: when the premises will be ready, when machines arrive, when sales start and how quickly they grow. Interest during the moratorium still has to be paid in most cases, so keep a cash buffer for it.

Line up convergence support before you apply. Ask the District Industries Centre and your state's SC/ST or women's development corporation which capital or margin-money subsidies apply to your activity and district, and get the sanction or eligibility letter in hand. A subsidy that is only "expected" doesn't count as margin.

Finally, prepare questions for the branch: Which scheme will this loan be sanctioned under? What rate, processing fee and insurance charges apply? Is collateral needed, or will guarantee cover be used? How long is the moratorium, and is interest payable during it? When will the overdraft limit be reviewed? Get the answers in the sanction letter, not just verbally. Read the sanction letter fully before signing: it lists the security, the insurance you must buy, the documents you must submit after disbursement and the covenants — such as routing sales through the loan account — whose breach can make the loan recallable. If anything differs from what you were told, raise it before you sign, not after the first instalment is due.

What the branch checks, in order

Step 1

Eligibility: SC/ST or woman, 18+, first venture

Step 2

Credit bureau check

Step 3

Project report and quotations

Step 4

Own 10% + convergence margin

Step 5

Site visit and appraisal

rate, security, moratorium set here

Step 6

Sanction letter and disbursement

Common reasons for rejection and how to fix them

Not greenfield. If you have ever run a business in the same or another sector, or the bank sees business turnover in your bank account, it may decide the project is not your first venture. Be honest; if you already run a business, apply under a regular MSME or Mudra product instead.

Weak project report. Reports with unrealistic sales or missing quotations are rejected or cut down. Base sales on local demand you can show, and include rent, salaries, power and loan servicing.

Own contribution not in place. Banks want to see your 10% in your account before disbursement. Money borrowed informally the week before is easy to spot.

Credit history problems. Old defaults, even small ones, block sanction. Settle and get a no-dues certificate first, and check your bureau report.

Nominal ownership. For firms, the 51% SC/ST/women holding must be real, with the eligible person in control. Banks interview the promoter.

Collateral disagreement. If the branch asks for property, ask whether the loan can be covered under CGFSIL or CGTMSE instead; see our CGTMSE guide.

If a branch refuses or delays without reason, escalate to the bank's regional office or the Lead District Manager, and keep copies of everything you submitted.

Alternatives while the revamp is pending

If your bank won't sanction under Stand-Up India terms, you still have options. A Mudra loan covers new and existing micro businesses up to ₹20 lakh without collateral. PMEGP gives a capital subsidy of up to 35% for special-category applicants, including SC/ST and women, on new units. A regular MSME term loan with CGTMSE cover can reach larger amounts, and CGTMSE offers higher cover for women-led units. Many states also run their own SC/ST and women entrepreneur schemes through the District Industries Centre.

Official links

• DFS — Stand Up India SchemeScheme features, validity and progress
• Stand-Up Mitra — scheme detailsEligibility, loan terms, margin money
• Budget Speech 2025-26 (para 32)First-time entrepreneurs scheme announcement
• Udyam Registration portalFree MSME registration often asked for at sanction

What to do next

Start by checking your eligibility honestly — SC/ST or woman, first venture, clean credit — and building a realistic project cost. Then visit two bank branches to ask how they are handling Stand-Up India applications in 2026. If they have moved to regular products, compare the offers with PMEGP and Mudra before you sign, and keep your file ready for the revamped scheme.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice — confirm on the official source or with your bank.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Stand-Up India scheme still open in 2026?

Its approved period ended on 31 March 2025. On 16 March 2026 the Finance Minister told the Lok Sabha that a redesigned scheme, based on NITI Aayog studies, would go to the Union Cabinet. As of October 2026 we found no notification of the revamped scheme, so ask your bank branch whether it is still sanctioning loans under Stand-Up India terms before you rely on them.

How much loan can I get under Stand-Up India?

A composite loan — term loan plus working capital — of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore, normally covering 85% of the project cost. You bring at least 10% yourself. The Budget 2025-26 announced a separate scheme with term loans up to ₹2 crore for first-time women, SC and ST entrepreneurs, but it had not been launched as of October 2026.

What is the interest rate on a Stand-Up India loan?

There is no fixed or subsidised rate. The scheme says the bank should charge its lowest applicable rate for your rating category, capped at bank's lowest rate for the rating category, capped at MCLR + 3% + tenor premium. In practice that means a rate close to the bank's normal MSME lending rate. Ask each bank for its exact rate and processing charges in writing before choosing.

Can men apply for a Stand-Up India loan?

Only if they belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. The scheme is for SC/ST entrepreneurs of any gender and for women entrepreneurs of any category, aged above 18. A company, LLP or partnership qualifies only if at least 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake is with SC/ST or women entrepreneurs.

Is collateral required for a Stand-Up India loan?

The scheme lets banks secure the loan with the primary security — the assets created — plus either collateral or cover from the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Stand-Up India Loans (CGFSIL), as the bank decides. Many banks used the guarantee instead of property, but it is the branch's credit decision, so ask before you apply.

Can I use Stand-Up India to expand an existing business?

No. The loan is only for a greenfield project, meaning your first venture in manufacturing, services, agri-allied activities or trading. If you already run a business, look at a Mudra loan, a CGTMSE-backed MSME loan or a PMEGP upgradation loan instead.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 7 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Stand Up India Scheme (SUPI) — Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance · accessed 7 October 2026
2. 2.Stand-Up India scheme details — Stand-Up Mitra (SIDBI) · accessed 7 October 2026
3. 3.Budget Speech 2025-26 (para 32: Scheme for First-time Entrepreneurs) — Ministry of Finance · accessed 7 October 2026
4. 4.FM Nirmala Sitharaman announces revamped Stand-Up India scheme for SC, ST and women entrepreneurs — All India Radio News, 16 Mar 2026 · accessed 7 October 2026
5. 5.Govt to soon come out with revamped Stand-Up India scheme: Sitharaman — ETV Bharat (PTI), 16 Mar 2026 · accessed 7 October 2026
6. 6.Finance Minister announces ₹2 crore scheme for 5 lakh first-time women, SC, ST entrepreneurs — Upstox News, Feb 2025 · accessed 7 October 2026