Skill, labour, talent for MSMEs: The number of aspiring entrepreneurs trained under the Modi government’s scheme to promote entrepreneurship among youth Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP) has jumped 113 per cent in the financial year 2021-22 from the previous year. According to the data shared by Minister of State for MSMEs Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session, the number of beneficiaries increased from 27,544 in FY21 to 58,659 in FY22 even as the amount released by the government for the programme dipped from Rs 2.87 crore to Rs 1.99 crore during the said period.
However, the FY22 beneficiary count stood drastically low by 74 per cent in comparison to 2,33,507 trainees trained during FY20 or pre-Covid. The amount released in FY20 to train entrepreneurs was Rs 40.85 crore. The ESDP scheme focuses on making youth aware of various aspects of starting a business including capacity building of existing MSMEs and establishing entrepreneurial culture.
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Among the programmes organised under the scheme includes a one-day Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP), six-week Entrepreneurship-cum-Skill Development Programme (E-SDP), one-week advance E-SDP, one-week Management Development Programme (MDP), and advance MDP, according to the MSME Ministry’s FY22 annual report.
Out of the total beneficiary count, the number of women entrepreneurs supported under ESDP increased to 24,734 in FY22 from 13,640 in FY21. The scheme focuses on youth including potential SC/ST and women entrepreneurs, differently-abled, ex-servicemen, and below poverty line people to motivate them for self-employment or entrepreneurship as one of the career options.
The recovery in the number of trainees trained at 18 MSME Technology Centres or TCs (earlier known as Tool Rooms) was also visible in FY22. The beneficiary count had registered an 8 per cent jump to 1,44,224 in FY22 from 1,33,301 in FY21. However, during Covid, the number had dropped by 51 per cent from 2,73,437 trainees trained in FY20, data from MSME Dashboard showed.
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