KVIC playing pivotal role in enhancing employment under PMEGP scheme

Khadi and Village Industries Commission is playing a pivotal role in enhancing employment opportunities across India under the Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP), KVIC's top official said on Monday.

KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said India is passing through a transitional phase from developing nation to a developed nation and schemes like PMEGP are the strongest pillars on which the country's future is embarked.

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"We aim not only to provide employment at the doorstep, but also to encourage the traditional artisans, self help groups and educated unemployed to build an enterprise of their dreams. This scheme (PMEGP) also helps to prevent migration of unskilled workers to urban areas," he said.

Saxena said aligned with the Digital India doctrine of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, KVIC had launched an integrated PMEGP portal developed in July 2015 to promote more number of small and medium enterprises in rural and urban areas.

"Before 2015, on an average, KVIC used to receive less than 10,000 applications yearly, however, after the launch of the online portal we receive an average 4,00,000 applications annually ,this itself shows the popularity of the scheme," he said.

He said KVIC being the nodal agency for PMEGP receives funds from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, helps in the identification and screening of deserving candidates and then releases the funds to the Corporation Bank, a nodal bank approved by the ministry.

The Corporation Bank then releases it to the financing banks for beneficiaries in a transparent disbursement mechanism. This year, as on February 5, KVIC has already released Rs 1,400 crore to the financing banks, out of which more than Rs 1,300 crore has already been disbursed to the respective beneficiaries, he said.