With reference to ‘Stand Up India Scheme’, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Its purpose is to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women entrepreneurs. 2. It provides for refinance through SIDBI. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

Both statements are correct, so the answer is C. Stand Up India was announced by the Prime Minister on 5 April 2016 to promote bank lending to at least one SC or ST borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch. It covers greenfield enterprises in manufacturing, services or trading, with composite loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore. That makes statement 1 correct.

Statement 2 is also correct. SIDBI acts as the refinance agency for the scheme and provides refinance support to scheduled commercial banks, so banks can lend without stretching their own resources.

• Option A is wrong because it rejects statement 2, which is a standard feature of the scheme's design.
• Option B is wrong because it rejects statement 1, which is the scheme's core purpose.
• Option D is wrong because both statements hold.

Core concept: credit-linked entrepreneurship support for disadvantaged groups, routed through a bank and SIDBI refinance channel. For Mains, it links to financial inclusion, credit access for women and SC/ST entrepreneurs, and the gap between bank lending and MSME credit.

Trap: Candidates remember the target groups but forget the refinance design, or wrongly assume the scheme gives grants rather than loans.