Narendra Modi's employment scheme helped female entrepreneurs launch 30,437 projects, Giriraj Singh tells Lok Sabha

New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) helped women entrepreneurs set up 30,437 projects during 2016-17 and 2017-18 with financial assistance of over Rs 853.05 crore, Parliament was today informed. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Giriraj Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that women entrepreneurs from from Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Odisha and Gujarat have been beneficiaries of the PMEGP. [caption id=“attachment_4852821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] Under the programme, women entrepreneurs are provided 25 per cent and 35 per cent subsidies for the project set up in urban and rural areas respectively. For women beneficiaries, their contribution is 5 per cent of the project cost while for general category it is 10 per cent. The maximum cost of the project under PMEGP is Rs 25 lakh for manufacturing sector units and Rs 10 lakh for units under service sector. The ministry has launched a portal “Udyam Sakhi” for encouraging women entrepreneurs and to aid, counsel, assist and protect their interests, Singh said. He said the Coir Board is implementing skill up-gradation and Mahila Coir Yojana, under which programmes like entrepreneurship development, awareness workshops, seminars and exposure tours are conducted for attracting more women entrepreneurs to set up coir 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 centres under various disciplines. During 2017-18, a total of 35,955 women candidates were trained. Singh further informed that entrepreneurs can sell their products through 8,058 sales outlets run by Khadi Institutions including 7 departmental outlets of KVIC located at Mumbai, Kolkata, Ernakulum, Bhopal, Goa, Patna and Delhi. Under domestic fairs and exhibition component of Marketing Assistance and Technology Up-gradation (MATU) scheme, 100 per cent of the space rent is paid for SC/ST/Women/NER/PH category MSE units limited to Rs 20,000, he said. In the case of technology trade fairs and exhibitions the limit is Rs 50,000. Under international trade fairs and exhibitions component of MATU scheme, 100 per cent of the space rent is paid for SC/ST/Women/NER MSE units subject to maximum Rs 1 lakh.