Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 12: The Central Government has supported the Odisha Government to grow the bamboo-based industries in the state by providing different incentives and assistance.
The National Bamboo Mission (NBM) focuses on the development of a complete value chain of the bamboo sector to link growers (farmers), primary processors, artisans starting from planting material, plantation, creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, skill development and brand building initiative in a cluster approach mode.
Under NBM, Central assistance of Rs 5.78 crore has been released to Odisha during the last three years for development of the bamboo value chain.
In the State, 16 bamboo nurseries have been established, 1049- hectare non-forest area has been covered under bamboo plantation, 5 bamboo treatment and preservation units have been set up, 26 Product Development and Processing units has been setup and 10 infrastructures for Bamboo Market has been created under the Mission.
Further, 3747 persons have been provided training under the scheme and around 16 workshops/seminars/trade fairs/exhibitions have been carried out.
Similarly, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) was launched by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is being implemented by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) as a credit linked subsidy scheme across the country, including Odisha for promoting sustainable entrepreneurship by facilitating the establishment of new micro enterprises in the non farm sector including Bamboo based enterprises.
Under PMEGP, Margin Money (MM) subsidy of Rs 11.71 lakh has been disbursed on bank sanctioned loans for creation of bamboo based enterprises in the State of Odisha during the last three years.
To support bamboo industries, the Centre has enhanced the maximum project cost from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for the manufacturing sector and from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for the service sector.
Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) training imparted to prospective beneficiaries to provide orientation and awareness pertaining to various managerial and operational functions to run their business effectively.
Marketing support is provided to registered manufacturers including PMEGP through KVIC Sales outlets. E-Commerce portal (https://www.ekhadiindia.com) has been developed to provide a digital market to sell products globally and to popularise Khadi and Village Industries products, officials said.
The PMEGP portal has been developed as an end-to-end digital platform integrated with financing banks through Jan Samarth Portal, streamlining the approval process and with SMS alerts to applicants at different stages, they said.
Besides, awareness and outreach programmes are being conducted in all the States/UTs including backward and underperforming areas, Aspirational districts, NER etc. to identify potential beneficiaries and provide handholding support during the application process.
