Postal staff to carry out physical verification of new KVIC units

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), an undertaking of the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Posts an undertaking of the ministry of communications for collaboration in physical verification of new units.

Under the unique collaboration agreement, signed in New Delhi on Tuesday, employees of the Department of Post across the country will undertake the work of physical verification of new KVIC units being set up across the country under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). KVIC will provide necessary training to postal employees for carrying out such physical verification.

The collaboration will hugely benefit KVIC as it will be able to avail of the services of 1,65,000 post offices spread across the country, of which 139,067 are in rural areas.

This will also make physical verification of PMEGP units faster, facilitating faster settlement of margin money subsidy, KVIC chairman Manoj Kumar said, adding that PMEGP has promoted entrepreneurship and created new employment opportunities across the country. 

PMEGP has supported the setting up of more than 9.69 lakh new projects, creating over 84.64 lakh entrepreneurs so far, since its inception. 

Under the scheme, the government has so far disbursedRs25,563.44 crore in margin money subsidy against a loan of Rs69,021.29 crore. During the 2023-24 financial year, PMEGP more than 9.80 lakh entrepreneurial jobs and distributed margin money subsidy of more than Rs3,093 crore.

Simultaneously, for the first time in the history of independent India, the turnover of Khadi and Village Industries has crossed the figure of 1,55,000 crore. Over the last 10 years sales of Khadi products increased five-fold while production showed a four-fold increase. These also resulted in the creation of 1.02 million new jobs.