District Industries Centre Loan Scheme

The State Government Departments have implemented various schemes to generate self-employment opportunities for unemployed youth. Besides these departments, the Directorate of Industries introduced the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Seed Money Scheme and District Industries Centre Loan Scheme for the unemployed youth through its District Industries Centers at District Level and Joint Director of Industries. The State Government of Maharashtra focused the rural areas of the state for the implementation of the scheme to promote self-employment and eradicate unemployment. In this article, we look at the District Industries Centre loan scheme in detail.

Scheme Overview

Under the scheme, the financial assistance is provided in the form of margin or seed money in the total cost of the project with an intent to encourage mini industries envisaging to generate self-employment or other employment opportunities in semi-urban and rural areas of Maharashtra. The scheme is implemented by the General Manager (District Industries Centre of the respective district) at the district level. The assistance of 20% of the total investment or Rs.40,000 whichever is less is provided for the General category. For SC or ST category either Rs.60,000 or 30% assistance of fixed capital investment whichever is less will be offered. The rate of interest for the loan as per the State Government is 4%. The scheme allows a maximum period of 7 years for the repayment of the loan. The highly benefitted community of the scheme is the rural artisans.

Eligibility

The Entrepreneur should be a resident of Maharashtra for at least 15 years
To be eligible for the scheme, the investments of the unit should not exceed Rs.2 lakhs
The scheme covers only those towns and villages that have a population less than Rs.1 lakh
Village industry board, small-scale industry board, handloom, handicraft, silk and coir industry are also eligible under this scheme

Documents Required

Educational certificates (minimum qualification- Std VIII pass)
Domicile in the state of Maharashtra for the last 15 years
Birth Certificate
Caste Certificate
Bank passbook
Industry license (for the existing industry of the beneficiary- if applicable)
Complete plan of industry (if beneficiary establishing a new industry in future)

Note: The collateral security had been a mandatory document as per the Joint Directors of the industry, which has now been made optional.

Application Form

The application form will be available with the official body of the scheme and in nationalized banks. The copy of the application form is given below: