Government pulls out handholding support under RGUMY

NEW DELHI: The government has discontinued its hand-holding support to entrepreneurs under the Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana (RGUMY) for the 12th five-year plan as it is considering an alternative scheme to offer mentoring services to existing and new entrepreneurs.

"The scheme of RGUMY has been modified with effect from April 1, 2015, and the handholding support component (Udyami Mitra) has been discontinued with effect from March 31, 2015. The Udyami Helpline (1800-180-6763) has been allowed to continue during the remaining period of 12th Plan," the MSME Ministry said.

"Since an alternative scheme to provide mentoring services to existing and new entrepreneurs has been under consideration of this Ministry, assistance under the handholding component (Udyami Mitra) of the erstwhile RGUMY scheme has been discontinued with effect from March 31, 2015."

Moreover, it said, the implementation of the scheme would be considered/reviewed by a screening-cum-monitoring committee periodically.

The objective of the modified Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana (RGUMY) is to provide information, support, guidance and assistance to first generation as well as existing entrepreneurs to guide them on various promotional schemes of the government, procedural formalities for setting up and running of an enterprise.

Till now, the primary objective of RGUMY had been to provide handholding support and assistance to potential first generation entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs included those who have already successfully completed or are undergoing various training programmes through select lead agencies like Udyami Mitras.

The support included establishment and management of the new enterprise, addressing various procedural and legal issues and completing other formalities.