PMFME Seminar and Loan Mela by Ahmedabad Chamber of Commerce Welfare Fund
(ACC) and FEA – Innovative Food Entrepreneurs Associates
ThePradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme
aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the
unorganized segment of the food processing industry.
The Indian food processing industry has a wide variety of food products and the largest
production base.
There are over 25,00,000 food processing units in the fragmented food processing sector in
India, with 66% of them located in rural areas and over 80% owned by family-based
businesses providing an income source to rural communities.
However, these micro and small scale processing units face significant challenges.
The PMFME scheme supports those in food business with the following incentives:
- Food processing entrepreneurs through credit-linked capital subsidy @35% of the
eligible project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs.10 lakh per unit. - Seed capital of Rs. 40,000/- per Self Help Group member for working capital and
purchase of small tools. - Credit linked grant of 35% for capital investment to farmer organisations, self-help
groups and cooperatives. - Support for marketing & branding to micro-units.
- Support for common infrastructure and handholding support to farmer and micro
business groups. - Providing Capacity building and training support to increase the capabilities of the
enterprises and upgradation of skills of workers. - Grants for development of common infrastructure including common processing
facility, lab, warehouse, etc. through FPOs/SHGs/cooperatives or state owned
agencies or private enterprise.
Since many IFEA members are in food processing sectors like dairy products, bakery,
frozen foods, beverages, etc, IFEA decided to plan the event with ACC after Rohit Khanna
and Anil Mulchandani spoke at an ACC seminar about the scheme.
The event was supported by Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd,
the nodal agency for the scheme in Gujarat.
A helpdesk was created where prospective applicants received information about the scheme and a list
of documents needed by them to avail the benefits of the credit-linked scheme. At the event venue,
booths were given to various banks associated with the scheme who could verify the documents and
advise the prospective applicant about the requirements to get the mandatory loans.
The event was well-covered by the local media.
