The government has received around 259,767 online loan applications under the 'Kamyab Jawan Program' so far and disbursement of loans will start from December this year. This was stated by Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.

There will be no markup for those acquiring up to Rs 100,000 loan, he said, adding that a six percent interest rate will be charged for the ones receiving a loan from over Rs 100,000 to 500,000. Eight percent interest will be taken from those getting over Rs 500,000. Dar said that only one individual of a household will be eligible to avail the loan.

He said that youth showed immense interest in the programme and the Kamyab Jawan Programme will prove to be a game-changer for the development of the country's economy. He said that an amount of Rs 100 billion has been allocated for Kamyab Jawan Program to facilitate one million of youth across the country. Every possible measure has been taken to make the programme transparent and free from political interference. "In the next phase of the program, we will try to fix the quota for disabled and minorities on the pattern of female share in the Kamyab Jawan Program," he added.

He said that the government has successfully managed the cyber-attacks of Indians on "Kamyab Jawan Program" digital portal, which shows the success of the initiative. He said that a large number of youth have appreciated this step of the government as daily over 50,000 applications are being received. He said that loan would be given to the youth only on merit without any political affiliation. He said that all Pakistanis including the government employees of age from 21 years to 45 years can apply for loan. Twenty-five percent of total loans would be given to the young females for establishing their own small businesses, Dar said, adding that all applications would be submitted online and SMS would be delivered on given numbers with confirmation details for assigning all selected bank branches, he added.

He said that this unique and ambitious program aims at providing soft loans to the youth of the country and creating job opportunities for them with having follow-up strategy.

He said that though similar youth support program had also been launched in the past, they could not bear fruit due to lack of an effective and comprehensive strategy while under this program, a number of schemes would be introduced for success of the program. He said that for effective monitoring, online application form was prescribed through Kamyab Jawan Portal. The purpose of the portal is to provide a centralized platform through which applicants would be able to apply directly to the relevant banks. He said that the portal would be hosted and controlled by National Information Technology Board, Ministry of IT and Telecommunication.

Only authorized stakeholders for specific purposes will have an access to the portal like individuals for the purpose of applying for loans, banks for the purpose of receiving applications, SMEDA for providing their hand-holding or guidance support wherever necessary and PM Youth Office for retrieving information for monitoring purpose.

Moreover, external audit of the portal from expert IT auditors will be conducted on annual basis to ensure that online portal is used by the concerned stakeholders for intended purpose only and unauthorized use of the online portal, if any, is identified in a timely manner.

He said that under this new program, subsidized business loans will be provided to the potential young entrepreneurs for the promotion of SME sector in the country. He said that for the very first time in Pakistan, through the platform of PM Kamyab Jawan program, the government has created opportunities to open the doors of socio-economic empowerment of youth.

He said that under the program, 'Skill for All Program' would be included under which technical and vocational training will be imparted.

He said that another initiative under the Kamyab Jawan Program will be 'Startup Pakistan Program' and under this program, potential young entrepreneurs will be trained and mentored to conceive, incubate and mature their business plans through access to digital incubation platform.

To ensure transparency, the entire program is made available on a digital platform and a scorecard has been developed on the basis of artificial intelligence to run the program.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019