Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are an essential constituent for national economies, contributing significantly to the employment generation and poverty alleviation. The Central and State Government have implemented several schemes and programmes for promotion and development of the MSME enterprises. Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana is a scheme for the promotion and handholding of Micro and Small Enterprises.

Objectives of the Scheme

The goals of Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana are given below.

• Provide handholding assistance and support to the potential entrepreneurs who have completed or pursuing Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme (EDP)/ Skill Development Traning Programme (SDP)/ Entrepreneurship cum Skill Development Training Programme (ESDP)/ Vocation Traning Programmes (VT), through selected lead agencies.
• Provide information, guidance, support and assistance to entrepreneurs and other existing entrepreneurs through 'Udyami Helpline'.

Eligibility of the Scheme

1. Existing national level Entrepreneurship Development Institutions (EDIs).
2. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institutes (MSMEDIs)/ branch MSMEDIs.
3. Central/ State Government public sector enterprises that are involved in the promotion and development of MSEs.
4. Selected State level EDIs and Entrepreneurship Development Centres in the public and private sectors.
5. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
6. Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that are established for cluster development involved in entrepreneurship development.
7. Capable associations of MSEs/ SSIs.
8. Other organisations/ training institutions/ NGOs etc. involved in entrepreneurship development/ skill development.

Roles of the Scheme

• Identification of suitable product/ project/ enterprise and preparation of bankable project report.
• Creation of propritorship firm/ partnership/ company/ society/ Self Help Group (SHG) etc.
• Filing of Memorandum.
• Access bank loans, legal capital subsidy/ assistance under various schemes of the Central/ State Government and other agencies/ organisations/ financial institutions/ banks etc. by networking with respective agencies.
• Assistance and support in establishing work shed/ office.
• Sanction of power load/ connection.
• Selection of appropriate technology and instalment of plant and machinery/ office equipment etc.
• Obtaining registrations/ licenses/ clearances/ NOC from the concenred agencies.
• Allotment of Income Tax PAN and Service Tax/ sales tax/ VAT registration.
• Sanction of the working capital loan from banks.
• Arrange tie-up with raw material suppliers.
• Preparation and implementation of the marketing strategy for the product/ service and market development.
• Establish linkage with a mentor for guiding future.
• Creation of web page and email identity.
• Once an enterprise has been successfully set up, the Udyami Mitras would monitor and follow up the functioning of the enterprise for a period of a minimum of six months and offer assistance in overcoming various managerial, financial and operational issues.

Training of Key Functionaries

A minimum of two critical functionaries from the lead agency that is responsible for implementing this scheme has to undergo training as per the modalities of the implementation of the system at any one training institute that is approved by the Ministry. The training expenses include onboarding, and lodging of the trainees shall be contributed by the MSME Ministry. The key functionaries/ call centre agents are required to undergo Refresher Training during the period needed.

Udyami Mitra Cell

A Udyami Mitra Cell is set up by the ministry of MSME with service assistance NSIC. The administrative service/ expenses charges for these services would be refunded to NSIC on actual basis. The cell also acts as Secretariat of the project and processes the claims, proposals, etc. maintain accounts/ records and also monitors the progress of the scheme.

Targets of the Scheme

• Annual goals will be allocated to the lead agencies for taking up of post-EDP/ ESDP/ SDP/ VT tasks in the form of handholding of potential first generation entrepreneurs trained under various EDPs/ SDPs/ ESDPs/ VTs.
• Allocation of targets for handholding support to Category I Udyami Mitras would be performed directly by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) after assessing their capacity and past performance.
• Targets to other lead agencies such as Category II and III Udyami Mitras would be allowed by the Ministry of MSME through State directories of Industries on the basis of capacity and previous performances of the lead agency/ Udyami Mitras and the recommendation of the concerned State Government, considering the availability of budget and the number of EDP/ SDP/ ESD/ VT trainees that are available in the State.
• Reservation for SC/ ST would be provided according to the policy of the Government.

Registration of Beneficiaries with Udyami Mitras

• The Udyami Mitras enrol potential entrepreneurs for providing them handholding support. Only those beneficiaries who have completed or undergoing Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme (EDP)/ Skill Development Traning Programme (ESDP)/ Vocation Traning Programmes (VT) for a minimum of two weeks are eligible for the enrolment.
• The applicants are required to submit their enrollment applications under the scheme with their contribution to the respective Udyami Mitra.
• The Udyami Mitra uploads the required details of the beneficiaries such as name, age, category particulars of the EDP/ ESDP/ SDP undergone by the applicant along with certificate number, duration and name of the institution. The expenses needed for web hosting and creation of IT infrastructure required for the scheme would be refunded to NIC from the plan funds allocated for the system.
• Once the application is uploaded successfully, an acknowledgement certificate with a unique registration number would be generated for the applicant.
• Once an enterprise has been successfully set up, the Udyami Mitras would monitor and follow up the working of the enterprise for a duration of a minimum of six months and offers help in overcoming various managerial, financial and operational problems.

Rates of Financial Assistance

• To set up service enterprises, the Udaymi Mitras would be provided handholding charges at the price of Rs. 4000 for each trainee, including a Central grant of Rs. 3000 under the RGUMY and contribution of Rs. 1000 by the beneficiaries.
• To set up micro manufacturing enterprises, having an investment up to Rs. 25,00,000, the handholding charges would be Rs. 6000 including Rs. 1000 to be contributed by the beneficiary.
• For beneficiaries from a particular category, a contribution of Rs. 1000 shall be provided as a grant under RGUMY.
• For small manufacturing enterprises with an investment of more than Rs. 25,00,000, in addition to Government agent and entrepreneur's contribution, the entrepreneur has to make an additional contribution towards handholding charges at the rate of 0.1 per cent of the project cost more than Rs. 25,00,000 subjected to a ceiling of Rs. 10,000.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The progress of the scheme will be reviewed and monitored regularly by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and by the Commissioner/ Director of Industries of the concerned States/ UTs. The consolidated information and progress report compiled by the above returns will be placed before the Screening Committee/ Ministry for review and analysis. The scheme would also be evaluated by an independent agency to assess its success/ impact and to ascertain constraints/ shortcomings.