P. Sarojini
New Delhi, India (CWBN)_ The Modi government’s Entrepreneurship Skill Development Program (ESDP), which aims to promote entrepreneurship in India and motivate the youth and scheduled caste and scheduled tribe men and women, physically challenged, and people below poverty line to become efficient and independent entrepreneurs, has so far witnessed a 378 per cent hike this year with the increasing number of trainees joining the ESPD program. According to the data from the Development Commissioner (MSME) portal for ESDP, the program started in January 2020 with 3,535 programs involving 49,548 trainees, and by the end of December 2020, it increased to 7,629 programs involving 2,37,192 trainees. These programs were organized under the ESPD scheme. In addition, the total expenses so far amounted to almost Rs 27.90 crore, while the total revenue stood at Rs 2.91 crore.
Vishwanath, Co-chairman, Industry Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “While the steps taken by the government are welcome but one has to look at the on-ground impact of the scheme. There doesn’t seem to be much currently. It is not about the trainees entering the programme but enterprises being set-up by them after the programme. One has to also look at further support provided to acquire land, capital, talent, etc. to launch an enterprise. Even if 40,000-50,000 are able to become entrepreneurs that will immediately have an impact on the ecosystem in India”.
The goal of the scheme was to empower young people to become entrepreneurs. In November last year, the government released instructions on upgraded ESDP involving multiple operations, which include a two-day Industrial Motivational Campaign (IMC), a two-week Entrepreneurship Awareness Program (EAP), a six-week Entrepreneurship-cum-Skill Development Program (E-SDP) and a one-week Management Development Program (MDP). The intake capacity of the services is 50-100 people in IMC for young people; 30-60 in IMC for clusters, associations and chambers; and 25 in EAP, E-SDP, and MDP each.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, President –ASSOCHAM & NAREDCO & MD, Hiranandani group, wrote the following in an article earlier this year: “In order to help youth to become an entrepreneur, and to help them procure prerequisite skills, the government had sanctioned over Rs 135 crore under the Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP) for organizing various skill development programs along with state government, industry bodies, social enterprises, etc. In 2019, 3,000 such programs were conducted and sanctioned. The industry bodies and various other elements of the society have also taken the onus of partnering in the program and run their own skill development units to help achieve the goal”.
Notably, to support the new entrepreneurs establish their companies, the government had eased the registration process in July. A new online portal called Udyam registration was introduced by the government to enable the small businesses to register online and based on self-declaration. Small businesses can now register only with Aadhaar registration number, and they are no longer required to submit any additional documents or proof. To expedite the process, the MSME Ministry has scheduled a single-window system at Champions Control Rooms (set up at MSME Development Institutes across India) and district industries centers.
