New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday extended his wishes on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, and is scheduled to launch the PM Vishwakarma scheme.

In a post on X, he expressed his gratitude to artisans and workers for their important role in building the nation.

Modi will also formally launch the PM Vishwakarma scheme on Sunday.

Incidentally September 17 is also Modi's birthday.

In his August 15 speech, he had announced the scheme, which was cleared by the Union cabinet soon after.

The scheme will be fully funded by the Centre with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore.

It aims to support and skill the people engaged in traditional crafts and will cover 18 such crafts.

Under the scheme, Vishwakarmas will be provided recognition through PM Vishwakarma certificate and ID card.

They will also be given credit support and training for skill upgradation, involving basic and advanced training, toolkit incentive of Rs 15,000, collateral-free credit support up to Rs 1 lakh (first tranche) and Rs 2 lakh (second tranche) at a concessional interest rate of 5 per cent, incentive for digital transactions and marketing support.

The launch of the scheme is being seen as a major political outreach by the government to the largely OBC community, to which Vishwakarmas belong, with the Lok Sabha elections just months away.