The Assam government has launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan (MMUA)’ scheme to empower women in Self-Help Groups (SHGs) by providing them with the financial support to become micro-rural entrepreneurs and Lakhpati Baideu (Lakhpati Didi).
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa announced the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan during a programme held at Behali in Biswanath district on April 1, 2025. Under the scheme, a seed capital of Rs 10,000 was disbursed to 23,375 women.
The state government initiative aims to promote self-employment opportunities in small businesses operated by women and to boost micro-level entrepreneurship in agriculture and livestock sectors to strengthen Assam’s rural economy.
Speaking during the event, the Chief Minister said, “Our Assam government is adopting a multi-layered strategy to empower our Nari Shakti right from school to old age by providing free admissions, free schooling, free ration, livelihood support through schemes such as Orunodoi and Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan, and old age pension to the women”. The state government has allocated Rs 3,038 crore in its budget for the MMUA scheme.
The Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan scheme will benefit around 30 lakh women in rural areas and 2 lakh in urban areas in Assam, especially from the SHG groups as per the reports. There are currently 27.04 lakh SHG members set to benefit under the scheme and more will be added in time. The scheme’s goal is also to enable women to earn an annual income of minimum Rs 1 lakh by providing them financial assistance in the form of entrepreneurship fund.
Talking to press on the scheme, Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Minister for the P&RD department of Assam, said, “Our goal is to have each woman earn Rs 1 lakh annually which can be achieved if they earn around Rs 8,000 monthly. 30 lakh women earning Rs 1 lakh annually will contribute about Rs 30,000 crore to the state’s economy”.
Scheme benefits:
All eligible women members of the Self Help Groups (SHGs) under Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ASRLM) of Panchayat & Rural Development (P&RD) department will be provided with the following benefits:
- Rs 10,000 as seed capital in the first year
- Rs 25,000 in the second year (Rs 12,500 loan and Rs 12,500 government support), The funds in second stage will be disbursed after reviewing usage of seed capital.
- Rs 50,000 in the third stage if the funds in initial two stages are utilised effectively.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Woman must be an active member of the Self Help Group (SHG) under ASRLM.
- Woman must have a valid and Aadhaar-linked active savings bank account.
- The applicant should not be a defaulter on any loans under SHG, bank or any other financial institution. Women who have taken a loan from micro-finance institutions before 2021 will not be considered a defaulter.
- The women applying for the scheme must have a business plan for their activity/enterprise and how she intends to use the funds
- Women must have at least one ongoing income-generating activity apart from MMUA.
- She should not have more than 3 children in case of General/OBC category, and four children in case of SC/ST/Tea tribes/Moran & Matak category.
- The woman will also be required to sign and submit the Sankalp Patra for committing to their girl children’s education and restricting the number of children as stated in the official guidelines.
- The SHG members will have to plant a new sapling or must already have a surviving and growing one.
How can eligible women apply?
The state government has distributed a total of 39.75 lakh forms in 35 districts of Assam inviting applications from eligible SHG member women.
The eligible women can collect the original application forms from their nearby panchayat and submit the same after filling out the details and providing required documents.
The applicants can visit the official website https://mmua.in/ and https://asrlms.assam.gov.in/ for more details and guidelines.