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The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) said on Monday that the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) has provided subsidies worth more than Rs 25,263.33 crore and generated employment for 7.9 million people till July 2024.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for MSME Shobha Karandlaje said the ministry was implementing PMEGP to assist entrepreneurs in setting up new micro units in the non-farm sector through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
"It aims to provide employment opportunities to traditional artisans/rural and urban unemployed youth at their doorstep,” she added.
The minister also highlighted that since its inception in FY09, the scheme has assisted more than 9.65 lakh micro enterprises across the country.
The reply in Parliament maintained that there is no specific target set for women entrepreneurs under PMEGP.
However, women are considered under special categories under the scheme and are eligible for higher subsidies and lower personal contributions.
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Maximum project cost admissible has been enhanced from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakhs for the manufacturing sector and from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for the service sector, it said.
In another reply, the minister noted that through the Central scheme Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP), the Ministry of MSME launched a sub-scheme MSME Trade Enablement and Marketing Initiative (MSME-TEAM Initiative), which aims at assisting five lakh MSMEs to onboard the Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform.
“MSME TEAM scheme aims to provide financial assistance to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) through seller network participants for catalogue preparation, account management, logistics and packaging material & design,” it added.
Of the total five lakh MSEs to be benefited, two and a half lakh would be women-owned. The scheme is valid from 2024 to 2027.
"The objective of MSME-TEAM Initiative is to provide assistance to micro and small enterprises all across the country," the reply added.
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