Central Tibetan Administration on Wednesday launched Gangjong Development Finance Private ltd, a non-banking financial corporation, which is planned to be developed into a normal Tibetan commercial bank in the coming years. The president of CTA, Dr. Lobsang Sangay announced the initiative at a press conference held at Dharamsala on Wednesday.
President Dr Lobsang Sangay told at the press conference that Gangjong Development Finance Pvt. Ltd. is the culmination of a series of deliberations by successive Kashags over the need of a financial corporation in the Tibetan community. He said this initiative is part of the Kashag’s 5/50 vision and the principle of self-reliance, one of the three guiding principles of the Kashag according to the report by CTA.
“This is one of the most strategic programmes of CTA conceived and designed to drive forward the Kashag’s 5/50 policy addressing the critical need of financial literacy and inclusion services for Tibetans in general and Tibetan enterprises and start-ups in particular. Under this initiative, we have already rolled out a 100-million rupees loan scheme for Tibetan hosiery and sweater traders at a relatively low interest rate of 3%. The scheme was highly successful with at least 90% of the loans already recovered,” said President Lobsang Sangay.
The CTA President also announced that an upcoming scheme of 200 million rupees to cover not just Tibetan sweater sellers but also Tibetan-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), and education loans, he also informed that 40% of the loan will be given to women-led enterprises.
The press conference was attended by the three Board of Directors namely Finance Kalon Karma Yeshi, Chief Planning Officer Dr Kunchok Tsundue and Alok Prasad, a renowned MFin expert. Finance Secretary Trinley Gyatso was also present. The new company is registered under the Companies Act administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. President Sangay as well as Dr. Tsundue informed that this is corporation is just the first step towards the development of a full-fledged commercial bank for Tibetans.
Leave a Reply