PMEGP helps more than 30, 000 women entrepreneurs  

Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, (PMEGP), aimed at generating employment in rural and urban areas of the country, has helped women entrepreneurs set up 30,437 projects during 2016-17 and 2017-18 with financial assistance of over Rs. 85,305 lakh. This was stated by the Minister of State (I/C) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) Giriraj Singh in a written reply in theLok Sabha today. Women entrepreneurs from the micro, small and medium sectors from Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Odisha and Gujarat have been beneficiaries of the PMEGP. Under the scheme, the women entrepreneurs are provided 25% and 35% subsidies for the project set up in urban and rural areas respectively. For women beneficiaries, their contribution is 5% of the project cost while for general category it is 10%.The maximum cost of the project under PMEGP scheme is Rs.25.00 lakh for manufacturing sector units and Rs.10.00 lakh for units under service sector.

The Minister said the Ministry ofMSMEhas launched a portal “UdyamSakhi” for encouraging women entrepreneurs and to aid, counsel, assist and protect their interests.  He said Coir Board is implementing skill upgradation andMahila Coir Yojana, under whichprogrammes like entrepreneurship development programme, awareness programme, workshop, seminar and exposure tours are conducted for attracting more women entrepreneurs to set upcoir industrial units. Under ‘Mahila Coir Yojana’ scheme, which is exclusively for rural women artisans, training in spinning of coir yarn and various coir processing activities is imparted to rural women in regions producing coir fibre in the country.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission(KVIC) is also imparting training for skill development through 38 departmental and non-departmental training centresunder various disciplines.  During 2017-18, a total of 35955 women candidates were trained. The Minister further informed that the entrepreneurs, including women entrepreneurs, can sell their products through 8058 sales outlets run by Khadi Institutions including 7 departmental outlets of KVIC located at Mumbai, Kolkata, Ernakulum, Bhopal, Goa, Patna and Delhi.

Giriraj Singh said that under domestic fairs and exhibition component of Marketing Assistance and Technology Upgradation (MATU) scheme, 100% of the space rent is paid for SC/ST/Women/ NER/PH category MSE units limited to Rs.20,000. In the case of technology trade fairs and exhibitions the limit is Rs.50,000. Under international trade fairs and exhibitionscomponent of MATU scheme, 100% of the space rent is paid for SC/ST/Women/NER MSE units subject to maximum Rs.1.00 lakh.