National SC-ST Hub Scheme Focuses on Entrepreneurial Capacity Enhancement

National Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe Hub (NSSH), a central sector scheme of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India was launched in 2016 by the Prime Minister. The scheme aims at capacity enhancement of SC-ST entrepreneurs and promoting " entrepreneurship culture" amongst the SC-ST population. NSSH scheme is empowering SC-ST population to participate in the public procurement process and fulfil the mandated target of 4% procurement from SC-ST enterprises under Public Procurement Policy by the Ministries, Departments and CPSEs.

To provide handholding support to the SC/ST entrepreneurs across their business lifecycle, 15 National SC-ST Hub Offices (NSSHOs) have been established by NSIC in various parts of the country (Ludhiana, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Sindhudurg, Ranchi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata, Surat, Hyderabad, and Jalaun). These offices provide handholding support to the SC-ST MSEs for Udyam registration, GeM enrolment, tender participation, credit facilitation and organizing Awareness Programs/Conclaves/Special Vendor Development Programs, etc. In addition to the above NSSH Offices, NSIC’s field officers are also providing on-ground handholding support to the SC/ST  MSEs.  Presently, there is no plan for establishing additional NSSH offices under the scheme.

During FY 2022-23, from the state of Maharashtra, 241 claim applications of Scheduled Tribe (ST) applicant MSEs were uploaded by the PLIs/Nodal banks on the MIS Portal, out of which 136 claim applications have been approved and Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy (SCLCS) amounting to Rs. 13.53 crore has been released.

As on 30.11.2023, SCLCSS subsidy in respect of 74 claim applications of women Scheduled Tribe (ST) MSE applicants amounting to Rs. 8.95 crore has been released across the country since inception. Out of this, in the state of Maharashtra, subsidy amounting to Rs. 1.44 crore has been released to women Scheduled Tribe (STs) MSE applicants in respect of 12 claim applications.