NEW DELHi: The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), which provides access to institutional finance to small business units, has helped in creating 5.5 crore jobs with industrialised states being major beneficiaries, a report said.

Industrialised states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have been the biggest beneficiaries of the PMMY, it said.

The MUDRA scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 8, 2015 with an objective to fund the unfunded.

So far, Rs 3.42 lakh crore loan has been disbursed to over 8 crore people under the scheme, mostly small entrepreneurs, a report by SKOCH said.

A substantial number of these people are those who were not involved in any kind of business before. MUDRA loan is available for non-agricultural activities for up to Rs 10 lakh. Activities allied to agriculture, such as dairy, poultry, bee-keeping etc, are also covered. DP MKJ