7 years of National SC-ST Hub scheme: The MSME Ministry’s National SC-ST Hub scheme, which supports scheduled caste and scheduled tribe entrepreneurs to fulfill the mandate of 4 per cent public procurement from central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), has supported over 1.13 lakh SC-ST candidates over past seven years of the scheme.
Sharing the updates on the scheme on X (formerly Twitter), MSME Minister Narayan Rane informed that government procurement worth Rs 1,485.16 crore has been made through the scheme from 10,139 SC/ST-owned enterprises in the financial year 2022-23.
“Launched on this day in the year 2016, the objective of this scheme is to provide equal opportunities for entrepreneurship to the youth coming from SC-ST category,” said Rane.
According to the Public Procurement Policy for MSEs 2012, central ministries, departments, and public sector units are required to buy at least 25 per cent of their annual purchases from micro and small enterprises. This included a sub-target of 4 per cent from MSEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs and 3 per cent from women entrepreneurs.
Under the umbrella of the SC-ST Hub scheme, the entrepreneurs are provided reimbursements for different processes through various sub-schemes such as Bank Loan Processing, Bank Guarantee Charges, Testing Fee, Export Promotion Council membership, Capacity building management, and membership fees of government-promoted e-commerce, etc.
Also read: In numbers: Breakdown of how much funds key MSME-related schemes received in FY24 budget
According to the data shared by Bhanu Pratap Verma, Minister of State, MSMEs, in Rajya Sabha earlier, the claims for subsidy filed by SC-ST MSEs under the scheme had jumped by 292 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 577 in FY23 involving Rs 69.66 crore subsidy amount released. In FY22, 147 claims were submitted by SC-ST MSEs and Rs 19.24 crore subsidy amount was released.