SFURTI Scheme: Full form, subsidy details, eligibility, how to apply

 

India is home to many traditional industries such as khadi, coir, bamboo and so on. Unfortunately, it is a very unorganised sector with a unique set of challenges. The government of India is instrumental in encouraging these industries. As a result, it has launched several schemes for the unorganised sector. One of the popular schemes is SFURTI.

This article elaborated on what the SFURTI scheme is, its objectives, eligibility and application process.

What is the SFURTI scheme?

Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) is a scheme introduced by the Government of India to promote traditional industries. The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to enhance the competitiveness of these industries, especially in rural areas.

India has a large community of artisans, which depends on traditional industries such as khadi, coir, and so on. Overall, this scheme supports artisans, workers, entrepreneurs and so on.

SFURTI Yojana financial assistance (Subsidy details)

As mentioned earlier, SFURTI Yojana is a financial support scheme. It offers maximum financial support of ₹8 crore.

Here are the details.

Cluster type	Financial assistance limit
Clusters having 1000 – 2500 artisans	₹8 crore
Clusters having 500 – 1000 artisans	₹3 crore
Clusters having up to 500 artisans	₹1 crore

SFURTI Yojana: Objectives

Here are some of the key objectives of the scheme.

• Traditional industries are highly unorganised. Hence, the scheme aims at organising artisans into clusters and supporting them with long term sustainability.
• To provide employment opportunities for artisans and rural entrepreneurs dependent on the traditional industries.
• To support them in new product development, design interventions and packaging. Additionally, it supports clusters in improving marketing infrastructure so that artisans can enhance their reach with appealing products.
• Giving artisans necessary training for upgrading their knowledge and skills development. This can be achieved through training sessions and exposure visits.
• Making provision for common facilities such as raw material banks and providing artisans with improved tools and equipment for better production.
• To improve and strengthen the governance system of these clusters. This can be achieved through the active participation of each stakeholder. Improved governance can further help clusters foresee upcoming challenges and opportunities and respond to them strategically.
• The scheme also aims to build innovative and traditional skills and market intelligence. Moreover, adopting improved technologies and advanced processes can help clusters to in better production. Developing such models of public-private partnerships can further lead to replicating them to regenerate other cluster-based traditional industries.

Project interventions

As per the Ministry of MSMEs guidelines, there are three kinds of project interventions.

Soft intervention: Soft interventions include general awareness, counselling, skill development and capacity building; institution development; exposure visits; market promotion initiatives; design and product development; participation in seminars, workshops and training programmes on technology upgrades, etc.

Hard intervention: Hard intervention includes establishing production and packaging facilities, common facilities such as raw material banks, technology upgrades of production infrastructure, establishing warehousing facilities and training centres, etc.

Thematic interventions: Activities such as brand building and promotion campaigns, new media marketing, e-commerce initiatives, innovation, etc.

SFURTI Eligibility: Who is eligible for the scheme?

• Non-Government organizations (NGOs)
• Institutions of the Central and State Governments
• Semi-Government institutions
• Field functionaries of State and Central Govt.
• Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs)

What is the implementation methodology of the SFURTI yojana?

As per the Ministry of MSMEs, the implementation methodology is as per the following

• Web-Based Project Management System
• Identification of a tentative list of clusters
• Engagement and appointment of Technical Agencies
• Approval from Scheme Steering Committee
• Pre-requisites for release of funds
• Release of funds to Nodal Agencies
• Release of funds to Implementing Agency

How to apply?

• One needs to prepare a proposal and make a funding request.
• Once the proposal report is made, you need to submit it to the KVIC office of your region.
• KVIC then checks the proposal report
• The proposal and request are then checked by the State level and Zonal level offices.
• Once the verification of the proposal is done it is then finally presented to the Steering Committee for final approval.
• Once the Steering Committee approves the proposal, the loan is granted.

How to prepare a proposal or project report?

Here are some of the key components your proposal or project report should include:

• Cluster Profile
• Artisans’ profile
• Product profile
• Market assessment and market demand analysis
• Detailed intervention plan (soft, hard or thematic)
• Project cost and means of finance
• Project timelines
• Detailed business plan (Sales figures, receipts, payments, income and expenditure should be included)

SFURTI scheme: Cluster selection criteria

So, what happens when an application made, how does the government select the cluster? Here are some of the government’s selection criteria.

• The cluster should have more than 500 beneficiaries including artisans, traders, raw material suppliers, service providers, etc.
• The cluster should be based on khadi, coir or other rural industries such as pottery, leather, etc.

Growth opportunities, sustainability and potential to generate employment are some of the other factors that are taken into consideration while approving the grant.

Related link

SFURTI website

Concluding remarks

SFURTI is one of the aspirational schemes that supports the growth of the rural economy especially through the development of traditional industries. In traditional industries, knowledge is usually passed on through generations. However, sometimes they become irrelevant due to a lack of modern technologies and marketing avenues. Therefore, this scheme allows artisans to adopt new technologies, and marketing channels and grow.