Government of India launches a programme for the benefit of artisans involved in manufacturing of Agarbatti under the ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’ (as a pilot project)
Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India, approved a programme for the benefit of artisans involved in manufacturing of Agarbatti and to develop village industry under ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’ on 30th July 2020. As per the programme, initially four Pilot Projects will be started, including one in North Eastern part of the country. Each targeted cluster of artisans will be supported with about 50 Automatic Agarbatti making machines and 10 Mixing machines. Accordingly, a total of 200 Automatic Agarbatti making machines and 40 Mixing machines will be provided to the artisans.
After two major decisions by Govt of India placing the ‘Agarbatti’ item from “Free” trade to “Restricted” trade in the import policy and ii) enhancing the import duty from 10% to 25% on ‘round bamboo sticks’ used for manufacturing of Agarbatti, this decision will help to boost the indigenous production of ‘Agarbatti’and will pave way to generate rural employment. This will also start the process of mitigating the gap between the indigenous ‘production and demand’ and will reduce import of ‘Agarbatti’ in the country.
3 Projects under Gramodyog Vikas Yojana Schemes:
- Pottery Activity under Gramodyog Vikas Yojana
- Beekeeping Activity under Gramodyog Vikas Yojana Scheme
- Agarbatti Making Project under Gramodyog Vikas Yojana Scheme