Bhubaneswar: Mission Shakti SHGs, which has strengthened more than 70 lakh women in rural and urban Odisha though 6 lakh such groups, would soon embark on a transformative journey, graduating to Small & Medium Enterprises ( SMEs), a release issued by the department said on Tuesday.
Discussing the growth of the rural economy and women empowerment through self-help groups during the senior officers’ conference at Lokseva Bhawan here, Mission Shakti secretary Sujata R Karthikeyan said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a number of initiatives to help women build big businesses and operate at scale.
THE INITIATIVES
- Zero interest Mission Shakti loans up to Rs 5 lakh. This year nearly 10,000 cr will be disbursed to more than 3 lakh groups. 200 cr of Interest subvention amount is being disbursed directly to SHG accounts. Over the next five years, Rs 50,000 crore loan is targeted to be disbursed to SHGs and 1200 cr has been provisioned for interest subvention benefits to SHGs.
- The Odisha government has a unique model of outsourcing government procurements and provisioning of services worth 5000 cr in 5 years. 15 departments are actively participating in the areas of hospital diet management, electricity meter reading pisciculture, urban works, nursery raising in forests and so on. A striking example of this initiative is the handing over of all 5 T schools to federations for watch and ward and maintenance activities with in-built supervision charges for SHGs.
- Training is an important component of building SMEs. All blocks will be covered with high-quality training with credible partners. Emerging areas of beauty sector enterprises, fashion design, agri entrepreneurship, cafe management, and hospitality sector services will be the focus areas.
- Mission Shakti Bazaar, the exclusive chain of retail stores for SHG products, will be set up in 500 locations across the state with a state-of-the-art boutique store in Bhubaneswar opening soon. 300 SHGs and PGs have been identified for onboarding to Flipkart.
- During the Make in Odisha Conclave 2022, the CM to nurture entrepreneurship among women announced Revolving Fund at Rs 1 crore for all district-level federations, another Rs 50 lakh for all block-level federations, office building with market complex for all GPLFs and establishment of micro & mini industrial parks in all 30 districts
A few examples of successful women-led businesses at district level were also presented at the meeting:
Koraput district has set up mini industrial parks for women covering 310 acres in 12 GPs of Borigumma. The district has leveraged funds from many programmes for these units housed at one location. The fly ash brick unit alone has a turnover of Rs 5 crore.
Kendrapara district has started Milk Shakti to procure and sell milk from Mission Shakti SHGs. They also have started a unique e-auto programme with women owners and drivers of electronic autos.
The overall vision is to set up at least 50,000 SMEs in the next 3 years. This effort will further promote women-led and women-owned large enterprises and provide a strong platform for women to take on leadership roles at all levels, the release added.
