The Central Government, in partnership with the State Governments, has launched “PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme” for providing financial, technical and business support for upgradation of micro food processing enterprises in the country. The scheme is operational for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 Crore.Support to upgrade existing units or setting up of new micro units for individuals is provided through a credit linked grant @ 35% with maximum grant of Rs.10 lakhs. The Scheme also provides support to food processing units of SHGs/ FPOs/ Cooperatives for credit linked subsidy@35%, Seed Capital to SHGs, Incubation Centre, Common Infrastructure, Marketing & Branding and Capacity Building. Two lakh micro food processing units will be directly assisted with credit linked subsidy, capacity building and marketing & branding support.
In 2020-21, against the Budget of Rs. 398.69 crore, expenditure incurred was Rs.398.43 crore including Letter of Authorizations. For 2021-22, BE is Rs. 500 crore and expenditure of Rs.104.80 crore has been incurred so far.
For implementing the new centrally sponsored scheme, various preparatory steps have been taken by Central Government and States/ UTs, that included setting up of institutional mechanism, hiring of technical specialists to support the micro enterprises, preparing of training architecture, training of trainers at various levels, involving banks in the scheme for sanction of credit for upgradation of micro unit, identification of micro units for providing support under the scheme and providing hand holding support to them for upgradation and availing of the credit.
For successful implementation of the scheme, National Programme Management Unit and State Project Management Units have been set up to assist the Ministry and State Nodal Departments. One District One Product (ODOP) have been approved for 707 districts of the country based on the recommendations of the States/UTs. Under the Capacity Building component, institutional architecture for training including special courses suited for existing micro units in food processing, preparation of course material, videos, presentations and trainings are provided to Master Trainers and District Level Trainers of States/ UTs for providing training to micro enterprises, their workers, SHG members, etc. Incubation centers have been sanctioned in the States at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, food processing colleges and other institutions to provide processing lines for utilisation by micro units and training. National level research institutions dealing with food processing have been involved in capacity building, incubation center and research activities for the Scheme. MIS for online filing of applications has been developed and operationalised and applicants are filing applications that are being appraised at the district level, being recommended to the banks for sanction of credit.
For creating awareness amongst the masses about the scheme benefits, various activities have been undertaken such as Monthly E-Newsletter, social media campaigns, ODOP webinars/ workshops, success stories series etc.
Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today