Tamil Nadu women emerge 2nd after UP in establishing more units

CHENNAI: When it comes to availing benefits under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) – a credit-linked subsidy scheme implemented since 2008 – 09, Tamil Nadu women appear to come close behind their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh in establishing more units.

Women in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have together started 36,018 micro enterprises and have generated employment in rural and urban areas. Neighbouring union territory of Puducherry is at the lowest position.

About 30 per cent of the 1,38,516 projects set up under PMEGP are owned by women, according to the Ministry of Small Scale Industries. Along with the top three States, Assam is the only State where more than 10, 000 women entrepreneurs have joined the venture. Four States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, and Kerala, have over 6,000 women entrepreneurs each.

 More than 5,000 women from Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have joined the league. Interestingly, only 413 women in national capital New Delhi have shown interest in the scheme.

 This news credit-linked subsidy programme was introduced by merging the two schemes that were in operation till March 31, 2008 namely Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) for generation of employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises in rural as well as urban areas. The PMEGP implemented by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

 The scheme is aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through the establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth in rural and urban areas. The maximum cost of the project is Rs. 25 lakh for manufacturing sector units and `10 lakh for service sector units. Women entrepreneurs are covered under Special Category and are entitled to 25 per cent and 35 per cent subsidy for the project set up in urban and rural areas, respec-tively.

Under the scheme, for women beneficiaries, own contribution is only 5 per cent of the project cost while for the general category, it is 10 per cent.