Gramodyog Vikas Yojana

Government of India launched Gramodyog Vikas Yojana on July 30, 2020. This scheme is launched mainly for benefiting the artisans involved in Agarbatti manufacturing. Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) approved this scheme. It aims at assisting and development of agarbatti industry and its artisans thereby.

Scheme Overview:

Scheme Objectives:

• The main objective of the scheme is to help the artisans in the villages involved in agarbatti industry.
• It aims at developing the agarbatti industry thereby leading to more employment opportunities for the artisans involved
• It aims at providing 200 automatic agarbatti making machines and 40 mixing machines to the artisans
• This scheme aims at the development of villages and domestic agarbatti industry as a whole by meeting the demand and supply of production in the long run

Scheme Benefits:

• This scheme will benefit the artisans and enhance the production of agarbatti
• It will provide the artisans with necessary training, machines raw material etc
• It will generate new employment opportunities in villages
• This scheme will develop the domestic agarbatti industry as a whole, thereby reducing the imports of agarbatti

Functioning of the scheme:

• With the aim of assisting the artisans, each small group of artisans will be given about 50 agarbatti making machines and 10 mixing machines which will count to a total of 200 automatic machines and 40 mixing machines to them
• Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) will provide necessary training to the artisans
• KVIC with Khadi institutions and agarbatti manufacturers in the country will start providing assistance, raw materials and job opportunities to rural artisans
• New opportunities to artisans and wages of regular employees will be increased, thereby increasing production

Key Points:

• This scheme was launched by the GOI, aiming to assist the rural artisans, develop the agarbatti production and thereby reduce imports of agarbatti
• Previously, an important decision was taken by the government where agarbatti item was moved from ‘free’ trade to ‘restricted’ trade in the import policy of the country
• Also, import duty was increased from 10% to 25% on the round bamboo sticks seeds used for manufacturing agarbatti. Such decisions were taken to improve and develop the domestic agarbatti industry
• This scheme is one of the 2 components of Khadi Gramodyog Vikas Yojana
• It will initially include 4 pilot projects including one in the north eastern part of India
• Under this scheme, about 500 additional jobs will be generated in villages and small towns
• It will help the agarbatti manufacturing in villages and generate sustainable employment
• This scheme aims to provide assistance and thus bridging the gap between demand and supply of production of agarbatti.