Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh, on Friday, said that with the startup boom knocking on the doors the self-help group (SHG) movement in India.

Speaking after inaugurating the “SARAS AAJEEVIKA MELA, 2022” at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, Singh said the Ministry of Rural Development has received over 60,000 applications from 3 states for start-up ventures in niche products and crafts areas.

He said, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched the StartUp India from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, and today we have more than 80,000 start-ups from 400 odd startups in 2014. India ranks third in the world in terms of the startup ecosystem and there are over 100 unicorns active in the country.

The Minister said soon Didis (Women SHG Members) will have their own start-ups as the proposals are under active consideration in his ministry.

Lauding the progress of the DAY-NRLM Mission, Singh said, in 2014, there were 2.35 crore SHG members, but after Modi’s active support in the last eight years, the number of SHG members has swelled to about nine crore. He said, the target is to achieve 10 crore members by 2024.

He recalled that when he was the MSME minister, the khadi sale was about Rs 8,000 crore, which crossed to one lakh crore mark, just because of an appeal by the Prime Minister to buy at least one Khadi product.

The minister also informed that the cumulative loan to SHGs was about Rs 80.000 crore before 2014 and now the bank linkage has crossed over 5.7 lakh crore in the last 8 years, with an NPA of just 2.8.%. He said, efforts are on bringing the NPA to less than one per cent.

The rural development minister informed that NRLM has been undertaking several efforts in supporting businesses run by rural SHG women that are engaged in producing food products, handicrafts and hand-loom etc. As part of the efforts to connect producers to markets, NRLM and SRLMs have taken steps to promote curated products from SHGs and SHG member entrepreneurs through multiple channels such as Saras Gallery, State-specific retail outlets, e-Commerce platforms like GeM, Flipkart, and Amazon. Moreover, there have been efforts by States/UTs also in getting SHGs products registered on e-commerce platforms e.g, Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho etc.

Giriraj Singh said each woman beneficiary must save at least one lakh rupees per annum through the sale of local products. He said day is not far away when some of the lakhpati Didis will become Crorepati Didis.

Referring to the Atmanirbhar pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said today the best products of SHGs are also being exported to different countries and there is a need for more and more awareness campaigns both locally and globally about their niche products through e-commerce platforms and other avenues.

Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development said that there are about 8 crores 62 lakh women who are members of SHGs and they have a presence in 97% of Blocks, while 85 % of them are directly connected with the network of the Ministry.

Sinha advised the SHGs and craftsmen to understand consumer demand to improve the products. He said the Ministry will give publicity to Mela through advertisement and SMS marketing so that all participants will get a chance to showcase their products to a large audience. He also informed that last year’s sale worth Rs 4.32 crore was recorded, which may touch 6 crores this year in the SARAS Mela.