A start-up guaranteed loan (创业担保贷款) is a bank loan for founders that a guarantee fund or government financing-guarantee agency guarantees, a partner bank issues, and the finance department subsidises. Under China's national rules, an individual founder can borrow up to CNY 300,000 for up to 3 years, and the finance department pays 50% of the actual interest rate. A one-person company founder applies in their own name, because the national rules attach eligibility to the person rather than to the company form.
Where the national rules come from
The framework is the Ministry of Finance's Inclusive Finance Development Special Fund Measures (财金〔2023〕75号, published 12 September 2023). It took effect on 1 October 2023 and runs for five years, so on the figures checked for this page (30 September 2026) it is the operative national document.
A later four-ministry opinion, 财金〔2025〕135号 (26 December 2025, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, People's Bank of China, and the financial regulator), pushes government guarantee agencies to back these loans, cut guarantee fees and run a "fast review, fast approval, fast guarantee, fast lending" mechanism with online processing and head-office-to-head-office bank–guarantee cooperation. It did not change the national caps.
Who can borrow
At national level, individual borrowers must belong to a "key employment group". 财金〔2023〕75号 lists: registered urban unemployed people, people with employment difficulties (including people with disabilities), veterans, released prisoners, college graduates (including village-officer graduates and returned overseas students), workers from overcapacity industries, returning migrant workers, online merchants, people lifted out of poverty, and rural founders.
There is also a debt test. When you apply, you and your spouse must have no other loans outstanding apart from student loans, poverty-relief microcredit, housing loans, car loans, and small consumer loans under CNY 50,000 (including credit-card balances).
A one-person company can also apply in its capacity as a small or micro business, but then the hiring test applies instead: in the year before applying, new hires who themselves meet the loan conditions must equal 10% of the existing workforce (5% for firms with more than 100 staff), on contracts of one year or more, with no wage arrears and no unpaid social insurance.
Amounts, terms and the interest subsidy
| Borrower | Cap | Maximum term |
|---|---|---|
| Individual founder | CNY 300,000 | 3 years |
| Partnership start-up | 110% of the combined individual caps | — |
| Small/micro business | CNY 4 million | 2 years |
The partnership figure of 110% of the combined individual caps is the national rule; the published material does not express it as a single yuan amount, and this page does not convert it.
On interest, the finance department subsidises 50% of the actual rate. Extended or overdue loans are in principle not subsidised. For subsidy purposes the rate itself is capped at the 1-year LPR plus 50 basis points in eastern regions, LPR plus 150 bp in central and western regions, and LPR plus 250 bp in poverty-alleviated areas.
Two further national points matter in practice: counter-guarantees are in principle waived for individual loans under CNY 100,000 (one of five waiver cases in the measures), and borrowers who repay well can reapply for a loan and subsidy when the loan matures, up to 3 times in total.
How the application runs
The order is fixed: apply first to the local human resources and social security department for an eligibility review, then to the guarantee agency for a guarantee, then to a partner bank for the loan. Eligibility review comes before anything the bank does, so the HR department is the first door, not the last.
Provinces can go further. With provincial government approval, localities may widen the eligible groups and raise the loan caps, the rate caps and the subsidy ratio — which means your city can legally offer more than the national figures above, never less in those three dimensions. Always read the local measure as well.
Tianjin
Tianjin's Start-up Guaranteed Loan Management Measures (津人社局发〔2024〕2号, issued 18 March 2024 by the Tianjin Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Tianjin Finance Bureau and the PBoC Tianjin branch, valid to 31 March 2029) mirror the national caps: CNY 300,000 for individuals and CNY 4 million for small/micro businesses, with partnership loans at 110% of the combined individual caps.
Terms are up to 3 years for individuals and 2 years for small/micro businesses, with one extension of up to 1 year if the bank agrees. The rate cap is the 1-year LPR plus 50 bp, and the subsidy is 50% of the actual rate, paid on a "pay first, subsidy later" basis — you pay the interest, then claim the subsidy. You apply for the eligibility review at the district HR bureau where the business operates, and counter-guarantees are in principle waived for individual loans under CNY 100,000.
Xi'an
Xi'an's position for one-person company founders comes from a direct reply: in an online answer dated 1 September 2026 (西安市人力资源和社会保障局), the city HR bureau told an enquirer about OPC company start-up policy that working-age founders in Xi'an holding a business licence can apply for a start-up guaranteed loan of up to CNY 300,000 for up to 3 years, with 50% of the actual interest rate subsidised by the finance department.
For the company route, Xi'an HR bureau material published 9 December 2024 restates the national figures rather than local ones: small/micro business loans of up to CNY 4 million for up to 2 years (创业担保贷款最高能贷多少钱？). The underlying Shaanxi local loan document (陕人社函〔2024〕265号) was not opened for this page, and whether Xi'an sets its own new-hire ratio for small-business loans was not verified.
Volume and delivery: Xi'an disbursed 281 start-up guaranteed loans worth CNY 151 million in 2026 up to September, supporting 1,036 jobs, and handled 382 one-off start-up subsidy applications paying 382万元, according to the city HR bureau's 21 September 2026 release (西安市人力资源和社会保障局). In November 2024 the Xi'an Employment Service Centre named 8 banks as the city's first batch of partner banks, including Postal Savings Bank Xi'an branch, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Communications, Bank of China, Qinnong Bank, Chang'an Bank, CCB and ICBC.
Qingdao, as a contrast on interest
Qingdao's measures (青人社发〔2024〕8号, 15 April 2024, valid to 30 April 2027) keep the same CNY 300,000 / 3 years individual cap and the same LPR plus 50 bp rate cap, but cap partnerships at up to 3 partners at 110% of the combined individual caps, and subsidise more: individual borrowers get a full interest subsidy at the actual rate, while small/micro businesses get 50%. Counter-guarantees are waived for individual loans of CNY 100,000 or less, and for loans of CNY 200,000 or less to young borrowers such as graduates within five years of graduation.
The spread between these three cities is the practical lesson: the national document sets a floor, not a ceiling.
What the published material does not say
- Xi'an's own local loan document was not opened; the CNY 4 million figure for Xi'an comes from the HR bureau restating the national rule, not from a Xi'an measure.
- Whether Xi'an applies its own new-hire ratio to small-business loans was not verified.
- The national measures run five years from 1 October 2023, ending around 30 September 2028; no newer national cap change was found.
- No published figure in this material guarantees any applicant a loan, a rate, or an approval timeline. The bank still decides on the loan, and the guarantee agency on the guarantee.
Sources - 关于印发《普惠金融发展专项资金管理办法》的通知（财金〔2023〕75号），财政部 - 关于进一步发挥政府性融资担保体系作用 加力支持就业创业的指导意见（财金〔2025〕135号），财政部等四部门 - 天津市创业担保贷款管理办法（津人社局发〔2024〕2号），天津市人社局等 - 关于个人失业保险领取及OPC公司创业政策咨询的问题（网上咨询答复），西安市人力资源和社会保障局 - 2026年西安"源来好创业"OPC创业实训营暨创业市集活动正式启动，西安市人力资源和社会保障局 - 青岛市创业担保贷款管理办法（青人社发〔2024〕8号），青岛市人社局等