Developmental efforts in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) post abrogation of Article 370 from the union territory in 2019 have led to the generation of employment opportunities under the centre’s PMEGP scheme, said MSME Minister Narayan Rane. The minister said J&K has been at the top in enabling employment opportunities under the scheme in the last two years.
“After the removal of Article 370, there has been an unprecedented pace in the development of Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the result of this is that under the able leadership of the respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, Jammu and Kashmir is at the top in providing employment through PMEGP-scheme for the last 02 years,” Rane tweeted on X on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited J&K on Tuesday to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth over Rs 32,000 crore related to sectors including health, education, rail, road, aviation, petroleum, civic infrastructure, etc.
“Many times more youth than before in J&K have become ‘self-reliant’ by adopting self-employment through PMEGP. Under PMEGP, in just two years, assistance was provided to about 23,000 units with margin money of about Rs 455 crore, which has generated more than 1.80 lakh self-employment opportunities,” Rane said.
Launched in 2008, PMEGP enables up to Rs 50 lakh loan (increased from earlier up to Rs 25 lakh) to aspiring entrepreneurs for launching their new manufacturing units and up to Rs 20 lakh (from Rs 10 lakh earlier) for new service units. The scheme was extended over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 13,554.42 crore.
