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New Delhi : Union MSME & Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on February 22, 2021, evening, inaugurated 50 artisan-based SFURTI ( Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) clusters spread over 18 States.
In the 50 clusters inaugurated on February 22, over 42,000 artisans have been supported in the traditional segments of muslin, khadi, coir, handicraft, handlooms, wood craft, leather, pottery, carpet weaving, bamboo, agro processing, tea, etc. The Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, has funded an amount of around Rs 85 crore for development of these 50 clusters.
The Ministry of MSME is implementing a Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) with a view to organise traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and increase their income.
Inaugurating the clusters, Gadkari said more research needs to be done on what kind of village products are required by the consumers, and how to attractively design and market these products. He suggested that the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, may be approached to improve the design and attractiveness of traditional products. A web portal is also required, on the lines of Amazon or Alibaba, to market these products effectively, both in India and abroad, he added, according to a PIB release.
Gadkari also pointed out the need to step up the pace of formation of such clusters as only 82 of the 371 announced so far are actually functional, and said a target of 5,000 clusters is easily achievable if red-tape can be reduced.
These clusters have been inaugurated in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
As on date, there are 371 numbers of Clusters, which have are being funded by the Ministry, supporting 2.18 lakh artisans with a total Government assistance of Rs 888 crore. More than Rs 708 crore has been the budgetary allocation under the scheme, of which more than Rs 567 crore has been released for the implementation of the scheme so far. These clusters are spread all over the country covering 248 districts.
SFURTI clusters are of two types i.e., Regular Cluster (500 artisans) with Government assistance of up to Rs 2.5 crore and Major Cluster (more than 500 artisans) with Government assistance up to Rs 5 crore.
The artisans are organised into SPVs which can be (i) a Society registered under Societies (Registration) Act, 1860, (ii) a Co-operative Society under an appropriate statute, (iii) a Producer Company under Section 465 (1) of Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), (iv) a Section 8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or (v) a Trust.