Number of people trained, placed by MSME Tool Rooms, NSIC, KVIC, other govt entities declines in FY21
The total placement in terms of wage and self-employment also declined 25 per cent from 93,647 in FY20 and 21 per cent from 88,484 in FY19 to 69,831 till February-end in FY21.
The number of people trained, certified, and placed by six key government enterprises under the MSME Ministry has witnessed a decline in financial year (FY) 2020-21 from FY20. A total of 2.18 lakh people were trained and certified as of February 28 in FY21 by MSME development bodies NI-MSME, NSIC, Tool Rooms, khadi and village industry body KVIC, Coir Board, and World Bank-assisted Technology Centre Systems Programme (TCSP), down 47 per cent from 4.14 lakh during FY20 and 34 per cent from 3.36 lakh in FY19, available data from the MSME Ministry showed. Likewise, the total placement in terms of wage and self-employment also declined 25 per cent from 93,647 in FY20 and 21 per cent from 88,484 in FY19 to 69,831 till February-end in FY21.
“MSMEs had started to suffer post demonetization but they were gradually recovering from it in the past three-four years. While they were improving, Covid struck and government and banks had to come up with multiple schemes in terms of capital support, deferred payments, NPA norms, etc., However, this should have been done two years back. These government enterprises are connected to MSMEs to provide them with support in terms of training and employment or self-employment. If these policies were there before Covid, MSMEs would have resisted the Covid impact and employed this trained manpower. Nonetheless, we should see the numbers stabilize towards the end of this year unless there is a third wave,” Vijay Kalantri, President, All India Association of Industries (AIAI) and Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center, Mumbai told Financial Express Online.
Comments from the MSME Ministry on the decline in trained personnel and placement weren’t immediately available.
Tool Rooms had led the count with 1.09 lakh people trained in FY21 however it could place only 8,646 candidates. KVIC placed the highest number of candidates – 60,797 out of 69,081 trained and certified. While NI-MSME and Coir Board had trained 9,217 and 4,548 people respectively during the year, their placement stood zero.
Importantly, the MSME Ministry’s Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP) has witnessed over 5.5x growth in the number of trainees entering the programme in nearly 18 months, Financial Express Online had reported on Monday. From 3,535 programmes involving 49,548 trainees around January last year, 8,164 programmes were organised involving 2,73,866 trainees as of June 7, 2021, data available with the Development Commissioner (MSME), Ministry of MSME had showed.
On the other hand, the number of micro-enterprises set up under the Modi government’s self-employment initiative Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) had witnessed a 9.2 per cent decline from 73,427 PMEGP micro-enterprises set-up in FY19 to 66,653 in FY20, according to the government data. Implemented by the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the estimated employment generated through the beneficiary units simultaneously also declined from 5.87 lakh in FY19 to 5.33 lakh in FY20.
