Under the Central Government-sponsored Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a total of 31,644 jobs have been created in Jharkhand’s micro sector in the last three years. The Government has provided margin money subsidy of Rs114.43 crore to 7,281 micro enterprises in Jharkhand. Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh provided the details in Rajya Sabha on Thursday in a reply to a question raised by MP Parimal Nathwani.
The Minister stated that PMEGP was incepted in 2008-09 with a view to creating job opportunities in MSME sector. Under PMEGP, a total of 2.94 lakh micro enterprises have been assisted with a margin money subsidy of Rs5,734.03 crore providing employment to an estimated 25.76 lakh people since its inception till January 31, 2015 in the country so far, he stated.
Nathwani wanted to know about steps taken by the Government for generating employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector in the country. According to the statement tabled in the House, under this scheme general category beneficiaries can avail of margin money subsidy of 25% of the project cost in rural areas and 15% in urban areas.
The Minister also stated that the margin money subsidy is 35% in rural areas and 25% in urban area for beneficiaries belonging to special categories such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, minorities, women, ex-servicemen, physically handicapped, beneficiaries belonging to North Eastern Region, hill and border areas, etc. The margin money subsidy is 35% in rural areas and 25% in urban area. The maximum cost of project of Rs. 25 lakh in the manufacturing sector and Rs. 10 lakh in the service sector is considered for the subsidy under PMEGY, he said.
The minister also said that any industry related to agro and food processing, rural engineering enterprises, mineral based items, forest based units, polymer & chemical based units, textiles/apparel items and services sector can be taken up as the beneficiaries under PMEGP. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is a nodal agency at national level for generating employment by setting up of micro-enterprises in non-farm sector.
The government provided margin money subsidy of Rs. 138.54 crore to 3843 beneficiaries in micro industry sector to create 44,534 jobs in state of Gujarat’s micro sector in accordance with minister's statement.