Banks told to clear proposals pending under employment generation scheme

The ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has asked bankers to ensure sanction of pending proposals and settlement of pending claims under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), so that targets for the year 2013-14 can be achieved.

The ministry has stated that around Rs 757 crore of unspent funds meant as margin money subsidy are already with the banks under the PMEGP. It has also said that there is need for transparency and accountability, and a system of e-tracking PMEGP applications has been made mandatory from 2014-15 onward.

The minister of state for MSMEs, K H Muniyappa, recently held a review meeting on the PMEGP with Chairmen and Managing directors (CMDs) of all the public sector banks. At the meeting he said that since the inception of the PMEGP in 2008-09, more than 221,000 new entrepreneurs have been assisted as of March 2013, over two million employment opportunities across the country created and Rs 5,037 crore released as margin money subsidy.

The minister noted that more than three lakh applications were received under the PMEGP in 2013-14, of which one lakh have been recommended by the district-level task force committees (DTFCs) to all banks. Of this, banks have approved 81,000 cases, involving a total margin money subsidy of Rs 1,879 crore. They have sanctioned 14,966 applications involving margin money of Rs 327 crore, and disbursed funds in around 6,000 cases.

He added that during the preceding years the targets set have been achieved, while physical verification of PMEGP units has revealed that 82 per cent of the units that were set up are working successfully.

If banks sanctioned even 72 per cent of project proposals, which is the observed trend under the PMEGP, margin money of Rs 1,353 crore would be utilised during the year, and targets would be achieved, he said. He requested bankers to ensure sanction of pending proposals and settlement of pending claims to facilitate achievement of PMEGP targets for the year.

He also appealed to all banks to process eligible cases from among the remaining applications without the subsidy component, by covering them under the collateral-free Credit Guarantee Scheme of the ministry.

He added that under the proposed e-tracking of PMEGP applications, each applicant would be provided a unique online ID through which they could track the status of their PMEGP applications at various stages and find out the reasons why projects were rejected.

The minister said that to ensure that applications are processed and sanctioned by banks in a time-bound manner, directions were issued to all stakeholders for ensuring that the application should be forwarded to the DTFC within 100 days, screened and submitted to the bank, sanctioned by the bank and the loan disbursed along with the release of margin money.

For 2013-14, a minimum of 100 projects per district were allocated under the PMEGP. To monitor the working of the DTFC and improve the implementation of the scheme at the district level, an advisory committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Member of the Lok Sabha elected from the district and the district magistrate or deputy commissioner or district collector as a member-convener, Muniyappa said.