Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), a scheme to provide financial support to micro and small enterprises through Mudra loans, was launched under the leadership of which Prime Minister of India?

Introduction / Context:
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is a flagship financial inclusion scheme of the Government of India that aims to provide collateral free credit to micro and small enterprises through Mudra loans. It reflects a policy focus on promoting self employment, entrepreneurship and small businesses. Exams often ask under whose leadership or during whose tenure certain major schemes were launched, making this a straightforward but important recall question.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- The scheme in question is Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY).- It provides Mudra loans to micro and small entrepreneurs.- Options list four Prime Ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi and Dr Manmohan Singh.

Concept / Approach:
PMMY is a relatively recent initiative launched in the middle of the 2010s. It was introduced during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of a broad set of schemes aimed at financial inclusion and entrepreneurship promotion, such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Start up India and Stand Up India. Earlier Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh had their own landmark policies but did not launch this specific scheme.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the timeline: Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi served during earlier decades, long before schemes like Mudra Yojana were conceived.Step 2: Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014 and focused on other financial and social sector reforms but did not launch Mudra Yojana.Step 3: Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana was launched after 2014, in the early period of the Narendra Modi government, in line with its emphasis on self employment and small business promotion.Step 4: Among the given names, only Narendra Modi fits this time frame and policy context.Step 5: Therefore, the correct answer is Narendra Modi.

Verification / Alternative check:
One way to verify is to group schemes by period: programmes like PMJDY (Jan Dhan Yojana), PMMY (Mudra), Swachh Bharat Mission and Ujjwala Yojana are all associated with the tenure of Narendra Modi. Older leaders such as Nehru and Indira Gandhi are linked with policies like Five Year Plans, nationalisation of banks and the Green Revolution, not with Mudra loans.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A (Jawaharlal Nehru) is wrong because his tenure was in the early decades after independence, long before Mudra Yojana existed.Option B (Indira Gandhi) is wrong as she led during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s and is associated with policies such as bank nationalisation and the Emergency, not PMMY.Option D (Dr Manmohan Singh) is wrong because, although a key economic reformer, he did not launch Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana during his time as Prime Minister.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes confuse different financial inclusion schemes or assume that all schemes with the phrase Pradhan Mantri must have been introduced recently without pinning them to the correct leader. Another mistake is failing to connect the scheme to its time period. To avoid such errors, it helps to memorise a table of major recent schemes and the Prime Minister under whom they were launched.

Final Answer:
Correct answer: Narendra Modi