PM’s employment scheme has no implementation strategy

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New Delhi, Sep 19: The government is yet to work out an implementation strategy for the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), launched last month with an ambitious target of generating 6.17 lakh jobs in the SME sector during the current fiscal. The credit-linked scheme was launched on August 15 by merging Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), which were in operation till March 31 this year.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) was given the responsibility to implement the programme at the national level, but it does not have a clear gameplan in place even now, according to the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises website.

“The detailed guidelines of the scheme are being prepared by KVIC and will be published and also made available on the website shortly,” the MSME website said on Friday. An official in the ministry confirmed that the strategy is still under development. “Formulation of the strategy will take at least one more week,” he said.

The MSME secretary, Dinesh Rai, is going to hold a meeting over the matter later this month. “The MSME secretary is to meet representatives from KVIC, banks and the industry to take stock of the matter and derive ways to make the scheme effective,” a senior official in the ministry said.

The small and medium enterprises sector is not optimistic about the scheme meeting its targets. The Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises secretary-general, Anil Bhardwaj, said, “The economy looks weak, as evident in the falling industrial production (factory output grew 5.7% in April-July 2008, against 9.7% a year ago), and the employment scenario is dim. Under such a situation, how can the government create so many job opportunities in the SME sector? The best way is bring in as many reforms as possible”. According to available figures, REGP generated 5.95 lakh jobs in whole of 2006-07. PMEGP is a credit-linked subsidy programme, under which banks would provide up to 75% funds required to set up an establishment, while the rest would be met through the owner’s contribution and subsidy from the government.