President Ram Nath Kovind on June 27, 2018 launched the ‘Solar Charkha Mission’ on the occasion of the UN MSME Day to mark the important economic role played by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Solar Charkha Mission
• The Solar Charkha Mission was launched with an aim to employ artisans in 50 identified clusters.
• The mission will entail a subsidy of Rs 550 crore in the initial two years for 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans.
• The mission will generate employment in rural areas and will contribute to the green economy.
• It also aims at linking five crore women across the country to the initiative.
• The mission is expected to create one lakh jobs during the first two years.
Sampark portal
• President Kovind also launched the ‘Sampark portal’, a digital platform to connect five lakh job seekers with recruiters.
• This digital platform will be useful in creating a skill pool of workers and connecting trained youth with job opportunities.
Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector
• The Indian MSME sector provides maximum opportunities for both self-employment and wage-employment outside the agricultural sector.
• The sector generates around 100 million jobs through over 46 million units situated throughout the geographical expanse of the country.
• Besides the wide range of services provided by the sector, the sector is engaged in the manufacturing of over 6,000 products ranging from traditional to hi-tech items.
• Currently, MSME sector leverages demographic dividend of the country and promotes inclusive growth in rural and backward areas. The sector accounted for around 60 percent employment in India.
• There are about 6.5 crore MSMEs in India which have created over 11 crore job opportunities.
• Such enterprises have registered over 10 percent growth in recent times which is much more compared to large enterprises.
• At Present, the Ministry of MSME is working to set up 15 new modern technology centres all over the country including in the Northeast. Each centre is being built at a cost of around Rs 150 crore.
Project Coverage
The target is to cover 50 solar clusters across the country, whereby approx. 1,00,000 artisans/beneficiaries are to be covered under the various scheme components. The scheme shall be implemented in all States of India. The geographical distribution of the clusters throughout the country, with at least 10% located in the North Eastern Region (NER), J&K and hilly states, will also be kept in view. Special focus will be given to 117 aspirational districts for soliciting project proposals under the scheme.
Project Interventions
One cluster of Solar Charkha would involve a maximum subsidy of Rs. 9.599 crore. An indicative Scheme is given below:
The Scheme would cover the following three types of interventions.
- Capital subsidy for individual and for Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) :
- 2000 Solar Charkha s at the maximum price of Rs.45,000/ – per charkha and a subsidy of Rs.15,750/ – per charkha works out to a cumulative subsidy of Rs.3.15 crore for 1000 spinners ;
- One unit of two Solar Charkhas would produce 2.0 kg of yarn on an average per day, resulting in a production of 2.0 tons per 2000 charkhas. Thus, 500 Solar Looms would be required to convert the yarn into fabric at the maximum price of Rs.1,10,000/ – per loom and subsidy @35% at Rs.38,500/ – per loom and the cumulative subsidy works out to Rs.1.93 crore for 500 weavers;
- Capital cost of construction of workshed with a minimum space of 20,000 sq.ft with 100% subsidy at the maximum rate upto Rs.1.20 crore per cluster for the SPV;
- Capital cost of Solar Grid of 50 KW capacity with 100% subsidy at the maximum rate upto Rs.0.40 crore per cluster for the SPV;
- One-time Capital Cost Subsidy for the SPV @35% works out to maximum of Rs.0.75 crore per Cluster for the purchase of twisting machines, dying machines and stitching machines (500 in number) for making the unit self-sustainable and for value addition.
- Interest subvention for Working Capital : It is proposed to have a ceiling of 8% of interest subvention on working capital irrespective of the interest rates being charged by the Banks/Financial Institutions for a period of six months. Recurring Working Capital cost for a period of six months at the rate of interest subvention of 8% works out to Rs.1.584 crore for one cluster including cost of roving, wages of spinners and weavers.
- Capacity building : The scheme envisages courses for the spinners/weavers and others involved in the garmenting unit at a total cost of Rs 0.595 cr per cluster for a period of two years.
