MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari Hails KVIC's Performance Under PMEGP

In a year marred by the economic despair surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has just recorded its best-ever performance in employment creation under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program (PMEGP). In FY 2020-21 ending March 31, which was largely affected by the nationwide lockdown, KVIC disbursed Rs 2188.78 crore to create a whopping 5,95,320 employments under PMEGP, the highest ever since its launch in the year 2008. In 2020-21, KVIC established 74,415 projects across the country. KVIC is the nodal agency for the implementation of PMEGP, the flagship scheme of the Central Government for employment creation.

Hon’ble Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari lauded the achievement of KVIC saying creation of local employments would support lakhs of livelihood and bolster the country’s economy. The achievement assumes greater significance as all production activities, transportation and logistics remained suspended for over 3 months due to lockdown.

In the year 2020-21, against the margin money target of Rs 2120.81 crore, KVIC disbursed Rs 2188.78 crore and thus achieved 103.2 % of the target which is nearly 14% higher than the margin money disbursed in 2019-20. Similarly, in setting up of new projects and employment creation, KVIC achieved 106.2% of the target.

KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena attributed this quantum jump in employment creation to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s clarion call for “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” and “Vocal for Local” and the constant guidance and support of MSME Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari.

“The government’s big thrust to local manufacturing and self-employment in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has done wonders. A large number of youths, women and distressed people from the weaker sections of society were prompted to take up self-employment activities under PMEGP. Further, a slew of policy decisions taken by the Ministry of MSME and KVIC to expedite the execution of projects under PMEGP helped KVIC achieve its best-ever performance,” Saxena said.

The role of the District Level Task Force Committee (DLTFC), headed by district collectors, was seen as a bottleneck in timely and swift execution of projects under PMEGP as it was often noticed that this important scheme was accorded the least priority by district collectors. Accordingly, the Ministry of MSME, on 28^th April 2020, amended the PMEGP guidelines to do away with the role of the DLTFC in approving the PMEGP projects and authorized state directors of KVIC for approval of projects, which significantly expedited the execution of applications.

“KVIC, on its part, also took two major decisions to ensure timely execution of applications. In the first move, KVIC reduced the timeframe for scrutinizing and forwarding the applications to the banks by its state directors from 90 days to just 26 days. Further, monthly coordination meetings with the banks were started at different levels which too has resulted in timely disbursal of loans to the beneficiaries,” Saxena said.