Government approves PMEGP continuation to create employment for 15 lakh people

The government on Wednesday approved the continuation of Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) beyond the 12th plan period for three years to 2019-20 with a total outlay of Rs 5,500 crore.
The scheme will create sustainable estimated employment opportunities for 15 lakh people in three financial years.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal implementation agency for the PMEGP at the national level. At the state/district level, state offices of KVIC, Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) and District Industry Centres (DIC) are the implementing agencies.
“A minimum target of 75 projects/district is awarded to all districts of the country to achieve inclusive growth.
“Higher rate of subsidy (25 to 35 per cent) will be applicable for women, SC/ST, OBC, physically disabled, NER applicants in rural areas,” an official statement said.
The applications are invited and processed online on the PMEGP-e-portal. The scheme’s targets are fixed taking into account the extent of backwardness of state, extent of unemployment, extent of fulfilment of previous year targets, population of state/union territory and availability of traditional skills and raw material.
PMEGP is a major credit-linked subsidy programme being implemented by the Ministry of MSME since 2008-09. The scheme is aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth in rural as well as urban areas.
A total of 4.55 lakh micro enterprises have been assisted with a margin money subsidy of Rs 9,564.02 crore providing employment to an estimated 37.98 lakh persons from inception till 31 January, 2018.
Modification made in the scheme include a second loan of up to Rs 1 crore to existing and better performing PMEGP units for upgrading with subsidy of 15 per cent, mandatory aadhaar card, pan card and geo-tagging of units.
The negative list under PMEGP had also been amended allowing serving/selling non-vegetarian food at hotels/dhabas and off farm/farm-linked activities.