Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh today said that Start-up boom in India has also started knocking the doors of Self-Help Group, SHG movement in India.Speaking after inaugurating the “SARAS AAJEEVIKA MELA, 2022” at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, Shri Singh said, Ministry of Rural Development has received over 60,000 applications from 3 states for start-up ventures in niche products and crafts areas.
Shri Singh said, it was Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who launched the StartUp India from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, and today we have more than 80,000 start-ups from 400 odd start-ups in 2014. He said, India ranks 3rd in the world in terms of start-up ecosystem and there are over 100 unicorns active in the country.
The Minister said, soon Didis (Women SHG Members) will have their own start-ups as the proposals are under active consideration in his ministry.Lauding the progress of the DAY-NRLM Mission, Shri Singh said, in 2014, there were 2.35 Crore SHG members, but after Modi’s active support in the last 8 years the number of SHG members has swelled to about 9 Crore.
He said, the target is to achieve 10 crore members by 2024. He recalled that when he was the MSME minister, the khadi sale was about Rs 8,000 crore, which crossed to one lakh crore mark, just because of an appeal by Prime Minister to buy at least one Khadi product
The Minister also informed that the cumulative loan to SHGs was about Rs 80.000 crore before 2014 and now the bank linkage has crossed over 5.7 lakh crore in the last 8 years, with an NPA of just 2.1%. He said, efforts are on bring the NPA to less than one percent.The Rural Development Minister informed that NRLM has been undertaking several efforts in supporting businesses run by rural SHG women that are engaged in producing food products, handicrafts and hand-loom etc.
As part of the efforts to connect producers to markets, NRLM and SRLMs have taken steps to promote curated products from SHGs and SHG member entrepreneurs through multiple channels such as Saras Gallery, State specific retail outlets, e-Commerce platforms like GeM, Flipkart, Amazon. Moreover, there have been efforts by States/UTs also in getting SHGs products registered on e-commerce platforms e.g, Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho etc.
Shri Giriraj Singh said, each women beneficiary must save at least one lakh rupees per annum through sale of local products. He said, day is not far away when some of the lakhpati Didis will become Crorepati Didis.Referring to Atmanirbhar pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shri Singh said, today the best products of SHGs are also being exported to different countries and there is a need for more and more awareness campaign both locally and globally about their niche products through e-commerce platforms and other avenues.
Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development said that there are about 8 crore 62 lakh women are members of SHGs and they have presence in 97% of Blocks, while 85 % of them are directly connected with the network of the Ministry.
Shri Sinha advised the SHGs and craftsmen to understand consumer's demand to improve the products. He said the Ministry will give publicity to the Mela through advertisement and SMS marketing so that all participants will get a chance to showcase their products to a large number of audiences. He also informed that last year sale worth Rs 4.32 crore was recorded, which may touch 6 crore this year in the SARAS mela.
OSD in the Ministry of Rural Development Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh said that Ministry is working in coordination with State Governments to strengthen the SHG network in the entire country and to realise the dream of Giriraj Singh ji to make the SHG members as lakhpati Didis.
Shri Charanjeet Singh, Additional Secretary informed that this year 300 craftsmen from 26 States are showcasing and selling ethnic and unique products through 150 stalls. He also referred to the Saras Food Festival-2022 that was organized in the national capital from 28th October, 2022 to 10th November, 2022 at Handicraft Bhawan, Connaught Place, New Delhi.
Ms Leena Johri, Additional Secretary, R.P.Singh, Director and several other officers from the Rural Development Ministry joined the event at Pragati Maidan today.