The government has proposed Rs 100-crore financial assistance for national and state institutions to promote entrepreneurship in 2.6 crore micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), in the next two years. This is in line with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s vision of training 500 million people by year 2022.
The assistance is meant for training more than two-lakh people in the MSME sector, for the remaining period of the 11th Plan, which ends on March 31, 2012. This will include 1,000 trainers. The aid would be provided under the ministry?s ongoing programme called ?Assistance to Training Institutions?, in which the government gives capital support for setting up entrepreneurship development institutions in the country.
The Expenditure Finance Committee has already approved the proposal. ?However, final approval of the finance ministry is awaited,? a senior official in the MSME ministry told FE. If the finance ministry allocates the proposed sum, the total assistance for the training programme of the MSME ministry in the eleventh plan will reach Rs 149.28 crore.
To keep up with Singh?s 2022 target, various central ministries including ministries of finance, human resources, MSME, rural development, and women and child development have started work on establishing more training institutions.