Government Schemes in India play a crucial role in solving many socio-economic problems that beset Indian society, and thus their awareness is a must for any concerned citizen. These are launched by the government to address the social and economic welfare of the citizens of this nation.With a view to providing financial, technical and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has launched an all India “Centrally Sponsored PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PM FME) scheme” to be implemented over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25

TOPICS

  • PM FME
  • Features

PM FME

Launched under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme that aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and to promote formalization of the sector and provide support to Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups, and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain. With an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, the scheme envisions to directly assist the 2,00,000 micro food processing units for providing financial, technical, and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises. The PMFME Scheme is currently being implemented in 35 States and Union Territories (UTs).

FEATURES

  • One District One Product (ODOP) Approach:
    • The States would identify food products for districts keeping in view the existing clusters and availability of raw material.
    • The ODOP could be a perishable produce based or cereal based or a food item widely produced in an area. E.g. mango, potato, pickle, millet based products, fisheries, poultry, etc.
  • Other Focus Areas:
    • Waste to wealth products, minor forest products and Aspirational Districts.
    • Capacity building and research: Academic and research institutions under MoFPI along with State Level Technical Institutions would be provided support for training of units, product development, appropriate packaging and machinery for micro units.
  • Financial Support:
    • Existing individual micro food processing units desirous of upgrading their units can avail credit-linked capital subsidy at 35% of the eligible project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs.10 lakh per unit.
    • Support would be provided through credit linked grants at 35% for development of common infrastructure including common processing facility, lab, warehouse, etc. through FPOs/SHGs/cooperatives or state owned agencies or private enterprise.
    • A seed capital (initial funding) of Rs. 40,000- per Self Help Group (SHG) member would be provided for working capital and purchase of small tools.

Funding Details:

  • It is a centrally sponsored scheme with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore.
  • The expenditure under the scheme would be shared in 60:40 ratio between Central and State Governments, in 90:10 ratio with North Eastern and Himalayan States, 60:40 ratio with UTs with legislature and 100% by Centre for other UTs.

Need:

  • The unorganized food processing sector comprising nearly 25 lakh units contributes to 74% of employment in the food processing sector.
  • Nearly 66% of these units are located in rural areas and about 80% of them are family-based enterprises supporting livelihood of rural households and minimizing their migration to urban areas. These units largely fall within the category of micro enterprises.
  • The unorganised food processing sector faces a number of challenges which limit their performance and their growth. The challenges include lack of access to modern technology & equipment, training, access institutional credit, lack of basic awareness on quality control of products; and lack of branding & marketing skills etc.

In order to test the dynamic knowledge of the candidate, UPSC and other Government  Exams will have questions regarding the various schemes overseen by the Government of India. So the candidate is required to know about these schemes. more government schemes here