With PM Modi's appeal, Khadi Commission reaches another milestone

in 2008-09, the utilisation of total subsidy allotted by MSME for implementation of PMEGP was less than 50 per cent, it reached 100.37 per cent in 2016-17.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has achieved more than 100 per cent target of subsidy in 2016-17 allotted for implementation of Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP), an independent report said.

The report prepared by Gurgaon-based Management Development Institute said that while in 2008-09, the utilisation of total subsidy allotted by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for implementation of PMEGP was less than 50 per cent, it reached 100.37 per cent in 2016-17.

After physical verification of 10,044 PMEGP units (five per cent of the total units) across the country and collecting data from the beneficiaries, stakeholders and external sources, the evaluation study said that average employment per project was 7.66 people, with an average cost of Rs 94,855 for generating unit employment and an average cost per project of Rs 726,760.

"The maximum and minimum costs for generating unit employment were Rs 265,412 (Nagaland) and Rs 25,070 (Tamil Nadu)," the report said.

The study also indicates that the average age of the beneficiaries was 36.8 years and 42.39 per cent of them were from SC, ST and OBC categories, besides 5.8 per cent of minorities and 10 per cent women.

"With 53 per cent and 45 per cent of beneficiaries involved in manufacturing and services respectively, collateral taken by the banks over and above hypothecation of assets by banks were recorded 46 per cent and 54 per cent respectively," the report added.

Talking about the development, KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said even the Centre has taken cognisance of the success rate of the commission in the implementation of PMEGP.

"In the recent budget of 2018-19, we have got Rs 18 billion with respect to previous 2017-18 fiscal's Rs 10.24 billion, which is 78 per cent growth. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a lot of affection with Khadi as he considers it a tool of economical transformation of the country, we will leave no stone unturned to follow and implement his vision," he said.

In all the states, the number of district-level task force committee meetings was less than three specified value of three-quarter, it said.

While in North zone, the highest number of such meetings was highest in Chandigarh, i.e. 1.15, highest in East zone and Northeast Zone were Jharkhand (1.05) and Assam (0.7) respectively.