Lok Sabha Question No. 3006 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-22
Subject: Entrepreneurial Culture in Rural India
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: M.K. Vishnu Prasad

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3006

ANSWERED ON 22/03/2022

## ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE IN RURAL INDIA

## 3006.   DR. VISHNU PRASAD M.K.:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to boost entrepreneurial culture in rural areas of the country;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to support developments in agriculture and allied sectors in rural areas as there is tremendous scope for innovation and development;
- (c) whether the Government proposes a study to analyze the impact of such schemes/policies in boosting Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in rural areas as well as increasing employment generation; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

- (a) The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) as a sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya YojanaNational Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) with the objective to help the rural poor to set-up enterprises at the village level in non-agricultural sectors. The beneficiaries of the project  are  from  the  Self  Help  Group  (SHG)  eco-system  of  DAY-NRLM.  The  operational unit of the project is Block. A maximum of 2,400 enterprises can be supported in one Block with  the  approved  funds.  It  supports  existing  enterprises  as  well  as  setting  up  of  new enterprises. Besides helping the rural entrepreneurs to access finance, a cadre of Community Resource  Persons-  Enterprise  Promotion  (CRP-EP)  is  also  promoted  to  provide  business support services to enterprises.The maximum budget for one Block under SVEP is Rs. 597.76 lakhs.The project duration is for a period of 4 years from the date of DPR approval. A total of 1,92,715 enterprises across 23 States/UTs have been supported so far.

Further, to boost the Entrepreneurial culture in India, 588 Rural Self Employment Training Institutes  (RSETIs) are functioning across the country extending skill and entrepreneurship development training programmes to rural un-employed youth to facilitate them to employ themselves  by  commencing  self-employment  units/activities.  This  Ministry  is  reimbursing cost  of  training  imparted  by  the  RSETIs  to  the  rural  youth  through  the  State  Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs).

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing Pradhan Mantri-YUVA  (Pilot)  to  create  an  enabling  ecosystem  for  entrepreneurship  development through  entrepreneurship  education  and  training  across  the  country.  The  scheme  has  the coverage  of  10  States  and  2  Union  Territories,  i.e.,  Assam,  Bihar,  Kerala,  Maharashtra, Meghalaya,  Tamil  Nadu,  Telangana,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Uttarakhand,  West  Bengal,  Delhi  and Puducherry.

Further,  MSDE  is  also  implementing  entrepreneurship  development  in  6  Holy  cities  to catalyze entrepreneurial activities in Holy cities by supporting existing enterprises to scale-up and  to  tap  potential  entrepreneurs  for  mentoring  and  hand-holding  support  for  setting-up enterprises.The  temple  towns  include  Puri  (Odisha),  Varanasi  (Uttar  Pradesh),  Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Kollur (Karnataka), Pandharpur (Maharashtra) and Bodh Gaya (Bihar).

(b) For  development  of  group  entrepreneurship  in  rural  areas  in  agriculture  and  allied sector,  the  Ministry  under  DAY-NRLM  facilitates  promotion  of  women  owned  Producers Collectives, i.e., Producers Enterprises/Farmer Producers Organisations and Producers Groups to support women farmer members to access better market for their produce through interventions  like  aggregation,  value  addition  &  marketing.  The  idea  is  to  develop  a complete  business  model  to  provide  primary  producers  with  end-to-end  solutions  from creating producer organizations to building marketing linkages.

In  addition,  to  build  the  technical  expertise,so  as  to  support  development  of  projects  for promotion  of  large  size  Producer  Enterprises,  the  Ministry  has  established  one  Section  8 Company 'Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chain (FDRVC)' with the support of TATA Trusts. It supports the State units of DAY-NRLM to develop and implement value chain projects through promotion of large sized Producer Enterprises.

So far, 183 Producer Enterprises and 1.26 lakh Producer Groups have been supported under DAY-NRLM.

(c) & (d) The mid-term review of the SVEP was done during 2018-19 by Quality Council of India (QCI); the key findings are as follows:

- i. 82% of entrepreneurs across the blocks reported being from SC, ST and OBC categories.
- ii. 75% of the enterprises were owned and managed by women.
- iii. 57% of the total household income is through the enterprises promoted under SVEP.
- iv. Average gross income of the entrepreneurs is higher than the aspirational income stated by them from the enterprise at the time of starting the enterprise.
- v. Around 96% of the entrepreneurs reported an enhancement in savings.
- vi. 70% of the entrepreneurs interviewed reported that taking loans from Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) was easy.

*******