Those engaged in micro and marginal businesses such as fruit sellers, vegetable vendors, mechanics, barbers or cobblers, will get a total of Rs 1.22 lakh crore of loans this financial year through the recently launched Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA), finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Launching a drive under the scheme at a Punjab National Bank event here, Jaitley said Rs 24,000 crore had been given as advances to 3.7 million small entrepreneurs through MUDRA. The ministry aims to cover 12.5-17.5 mn small business people under MUDRA in 2015-16, he added.

A non-banking finance company and part of the Small Industries Development Bank of India, it will later take the form of a bank, through legislation in the next year. Small businesses can take a loan up to Rs 50,000; the highest bracket of loans available to the small and medium enterprises sector would be up to Rs 10 lakh.

The current focus is on small businesses, encompassing a range such as shopkeepers, fruit sellers, vegetable vendors, mechanics, barbers, cobblers and small units, all of which need to borrow from money lenders and informal sources.