The credit for this quantum jump in job creation goes to the Prime Minister’s push for local manufacturing to achieve self-reliance

It’s been a year full of historic feats for Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in executing the flagship Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program (PMEGP). With setting up of an unprecedented 1.03 lakh new manufacturing and service units and creation of over 8.25 lakh jobs, PMEGP has emerged as the Government’s most powerful tool of self-sustainability in the year 2021-22, even as the country was under partial lockdown for the first three  months of the year during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

This is for the first time since the launch of the PMEGP scheme in 2008, that KVIC has established over one lakh new units in a financial year. These 1,03,219 units have been set up at a total capital of nearly Rs 12,000 crore out of which the KVIC disbursed a margin money subsidy of Rs 2978 crore while the bank credit flow was nearly Rs 9,000 crore. The margin money subsidy of Rs 2978 crore given by KVIC in the year 2021-22 is also the highest since 2008. A whopping 8,25,752 new employment were created across the country, which is also the highest so far under PMEGP.

As compared to the previous year, i.e. 2020-21, the number of units and employment created under PMEGP has gone up by 39% each, while the margin money distribution (subsidy) has also witnessed a jump of 36% in FY 2021-22. In the larger perspective, the number of units set up under PMEGP since 2014-15 has increased by 114%, employment creation has gone up by 131% and the margin money distribution has seen a quantum jump of 165% in the year 2021-22.

The credit for this quantum jump in employment creation goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  push for local manufacturing to achieve self-reliance. This big thrust to local manufacturing and self-employment in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has done wonders. A large number of youths, women and migrants were prompted to take up self-employment activities under PMEGP. Further, a slew of policy decisions taken by the Ministry of MSME and KVIC to expedite the execution of projects under PMEGP helped KVIC achieve its best ever performance.

KVIC, in recent years, has taken a number of initiatives for effective implementation of PMEGP. In 2016, KVIC introduced an online portal for PMEGP. Before 2016, filing of applications was done manually and on an average only 70,000 applications were received annually. But, with the online portal in place, an average of nearly 4 lakh applications are received every year. The online system has brought in greater transparency. PMEGP portal enables the applicants to track their applications without any human intervention.

In another major step, KVIC started  geo-tagging of all PMEGP units so as to verify their actual physical status performance at any point of time. So far, more than 1 lakh PMEGP units have been geo-tagged. This also enables any person to locate the PMEGP units using a mobile app.

Further, the Ministry of MSME, based on the inputs provided by KVIC, removed the role of the District Level Task Force Committee in approving the PMEGP projects and authorized state directors of KVIC for approval of projects and directly send it to the financing banks.

KVIC also reduced the timeframe for scrutinizing and forwarding the applications to the banks by its state directors from 90 days to just 26 days. Further, monthly coordination meetings with the banks were started at different levels which, too, has resulted in timely disbursement of loans to the beneficiaries.

The KVIC also scripted a golden chapter of industrial growth and employment boom in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

In 2021-22, the  KVIC in J&K set up  the highest number of manufacturing and service units under PMEGP and created the highest number of jobs compared to  all other states and UTs in India.

With a record 21,640 manufacturing and service units, J&K stands way ahead of bigger states like Uttar Pradesh (12,594 units), Madhya Pradesh (8082 units), Tamil Nadu (5972 units), Karnataka (5877) and Gujarat (4140 units). A massive 1.73 lakh new employment in J&K in 2021-22, under PMEGP alone, is also the highest across all states and UTs in India.

In 2021-22, KVIC had set a target of 3360 PMEGP units in J&K but buoyed by the Centre’s major push to local manufacturing, it ended up establishing a whopping 21,640 units and thus exceeding the target by a massive 544%. In J&K, these units have been established with a total capital of Rs 2101 crore. Out of this, KVIC disbursed a record margin money subsidy of Rs 467 crore while the Bank Credit flow was Rs 1634 crore. The margin money subsidy disbursed by KVIC in J&K is also the highest among all states/UTs in the country.

Such large-scale self-employment in J&K is a contribution of KVIC towards making the state self-sustainable and bringing it at par with other states in terms of development. The record number of PMEGP units in J&K is also a testimony of how people of J&K, after abrogation of Article 370 are participating in government schemes to strengthen the local economy and pave the way for overall development of the State..

The development of J&K has been the focus area of the Modi Government.  Special thrust has been given on creation of local employment in the state since 2014-15. The  efforts have been fortified since 2019 when J&K was made a union territory.

The writer is Chairman, Khadi & Village Industries Commission. The views expressed are personal.)