The Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development, chaired by Secretary Shri Rohit Kansal, reviewed proposals under the Non-Farm Livelihoods component of DAY-NRLM to strengthen women-led rural enterprises and support the national goal of creating 6 crore Lakhpati Didis. The committee considered four new incubator proposals from Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat, with IIT Patna, IIM Jammu, IIM Lucknow, and IIT Gandhinagar respectively as proposed incubator partners. These programs aim to support over 600 high-potential rural enterprises through structured interventions in business strategy, mentoring, financial planning, formalization, technology adoption, market access, and finance.
The new incubators will focus on sectors including food and agri-processing, textiles and handicrafts, manufacturing, retail and services, tourism-linked activities, digital enterprises, and other locally relevant growth sectors. The program features a transparent, merit-based Challenge Fund for enterprise selection and dedicated State Incubation Cells to institutionalize enterprise support within State Rural Livelihoods Missions.
The committee also considered proposals for expansion of the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) in West Bengal and Goa to further strengthen the rural non-farm entrepreneurship ecosystem. These initiatives build on the experience of four completed incubator programs in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, and Karnataka that supported over 600 SHG enterprises, with 14 incubator programs currently operational across 13 States supporting approximately 2,100 rural SHG enterprises through partnerships with premier institutions including IIMs, IITs, and leading incubation institutions.