On January 6 2016, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a new Credit Guarantee Fund under the Stand Up India specifically designed to address the needs of the SC/ST categories along with women entrepreneurs.
The government’s ‘Start Up India Stand Up India’ scheme was initially announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2015 and is designed to encourage entrepreneurship amongst the youth, especially in semi-urban and rural areas. The SC/ST categories and women needed specific attention to encourage them to take up self-sustaining entrepreneurship and this scheme addresses that need.