New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): A total of 3,13,464 enterprises have been supported under the Startup Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) to date, according to the government.

Minister of State for Rural Development, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that so far, total central share releases to states/UTs under the SVEP amount is Rs 561.13 crore.

SVEP has been approved in 429 blocks across 31 states/UTs including Puducherry. Out of which, in 280 blocks, detailed project report (DPR) has been approved and the programme implementation has started, the minister informed.

A mid-term review of SVEP was carried out during 2018-19 by the Quality Council of India (QCI), which indicated that the programme was able to meet the objectives.

About 82 per cent of entrepreneurs across the blocks reported being from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class categories and 75 per cent of the enterprises were owned and managed by women.

Nearly 57 per cent of the total household income is through the enterprises promoted under SVEP. “Average gross income of the entrepreneurs is higher than the aspirational income stated by them from the enterprise at the time of starting the enterprise,” said the Minister.

Around 96 per cent of the entrepreneurs reported an enhancement in savings and 70 per cent of the entrepreneurs interviewed reported that taking loans from Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) was easy.

The exposure visits of these entrepreneurs are also organised within different community institutions for better cross learning.

SVEP, the sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), supports self-help groups (SHGs) and their family members to set-up small enterprises in the non-farm sector.

SVEP projects are implemented in a block and are of four-year duration. The scheme was approved on May 6, 2015 and the action plans for implementation of SVEP were invited from the state governments during 2015-16.