Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), the sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has enabled the setting up of 3.13 lakh enterprises as of October 31, 2024, said Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. The programme supports self-help groups (SHGs) and their family members to set up small enterprises in the non-farm sector.
Approved in May 2015, SVEP projects are implemented in blocks across different cities and union territories and are of four-year duration.
The enterprise formation started during 2017-18 and SVEP so far is approved in 429 blocks across 31 States/UTs, of which in 280 blocks detailed project report has been approved and the programme implementation has started, Pemmasani said in his response.
He added that a mid-term review of the programme carried out during 2018-19 by the Quality Council of India (QCI) had indicated that the programme was able to meet the objectives.
This included 82 per cent of entrepreneurs across the blocks reported being from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward class categories, 75 per cent of the enterprises were owned and managed by women, 57 per cent of the total household income was through the enterprises promoted under SVEP, around 96 per cent of the entrepreneurs reported an enhancement in savings, and 70 per cent of the entrepreneurs interviewed reported that taking loans from Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) was easy.
Pemmasani said the details of the SVEP entrepreneurs are shared with the Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) to encourage other SHG members in the Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to become entrepreneurs.
Moreover, “the exposure visits of these entrepreneurs are also organized within different community institutions for better cross learning. In addition, the SVEP entrepreneurs’ success stories are published and shared at various forums. The entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector attend national SARAS Mela as well to display their products and establish the market linkage,” he added.