Swarojgar Yojana — Self-Employment Loan and Subsidy Support (Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu)

What is Swarojgar Yojana in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu?

Swarojgar Yojana is the name people in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu commonly use for self-employment loan and subsidy support, and the honest starting point for this guide is that no order or scheme page of that exact name is published on the U.T. Administration's own website. A search of ddd.gov.in for "swarojgar" returns no result, and a search for "self employment" returns only the labour self-certification orders and the page for Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. Figures circulating on private scheme-aggregator websites, a bank loan of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh with a 25% subsidy, for example, are not traceable to any published U.T. notification, and this guide does not repeat them as fact.

What is verifiable is the machinery that actually delivers self-employment finance in the territory. The District Industries Centre (DIC) at Udyog Bhavan, Dunetha, Daman 396215, reachable on 0260-2230871 and 0260-2230310, is the U.T. Administration's nodal office for micro and small enterprise promotion. The DIC page on ddd.gov.in documents the Assistance for Industrial Infrastructure Scheme, the ease-of-doing-business Common Application Form, the process flow for investors, and the notified time limits within which competent authorities must decide applications. The DIC is where a resident who wants to start a small unit begins.

Two national schemes are the live routes through which a self-employment project in Silvassa, Daman or Diu is actually financed:

• Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through KVIC, KVIB and the District Industries Centre. According to the Ministry's guidelines, PMEGP finances new micro units with a project cost up to Rs 50 lakh in manufacturing and Rs 20 lakh in the service sector, and pays a margin money subsidy of 15% to 35% of project cost, the lower band for general-category applicants in urban areas, and the higher band for special-category applicants such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women, ex-servicemen and persons with disabilities, in rural areas. The applicant contributes 5% or 10% of project cost from own funds and the bank lends the balance.
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), listed as a live scheme on ddd.gov.in, which provides collateral-free loans to non-farm micro enterprises through banks, small finance banks, NBFCs and microfinance institutions, in the Shishu, Kishore and Tarun categories by loan size.

For skills rather than capital, the territory also runs Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 2.0, listed on the same UT scheme page, which is the training route many self-employment applicants take before seeking a loan.

Who is eligible for self-employment support in the union territory?

You can qualify if:

• You are an adult resident of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman or Diu. PMEGP requires the applicant to be above 18 years of age.
• You are setting up a new micro enterprise. PMEGP finances new units only; an existing unit already assisted under any government subsidy scheme is outside its scope.
• Your project is viable and documented in a project report showing machinery cost, working capital, expected turnover and a repayment schedule.
• You can bring the own contribution the scheme requires to 10% of project cost for general-category applicants and 5% for special-category applicants under PMEGP.
• For the higher subsidy band, you belong to a special category, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, other backward class, minority, woman, ex-serviceman, person with disability, or an applicant from a hill or border area — and hold the certificate to prove it.
• For Mudra, you are running or starting any income-generating non-farm activity in manufacturing, trading or services, or an allied agriculture activity.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are already in regular salaried employment and will not personally run the unit.
• Your unit already exists and is already financed under another government subsidy scheme. PMEGP is for new units, and double subsidy on the same asset is not allowed.
• You are a defaulter to any bank or financial institution. A live default will stop the file at the bank stage regardless of what the DIC recommends.
• The proposed activity falls in the negative list, PMEGP excludes activities such as meat processing and sale, intoxicants, tobacco products such as bidi and pan, and certain other prohibited trades.
• You are not resident in the union territory and want a unit here without any local address or premises.
• You expect cash in hand. The subsidy never reaches the entrepreneur as cash; it sits with the financing bank as a lock-in deposit.

What documents are required?

How to apply for self-employment loan and subsidy support

1. Visit the District Industries Centre first. Go to Udyog Bhavan, Dunetha, Daman 396215, or call 0260-2230871 / 0260-2230310, and ask which route fits your project, PMEGP for a new manufacturing or service unit with subsidy, or Mudra for a smaller collateral-free loan.
2. Prepare a realistic project report. Set out the machinery and equipment to be bought with supporting quotations, the working capital needed, expected monthly sales, and how the loan will be repaid. The DIC assists first-time applicants with the format.
3. Register and apply online. For PMEGP, register on the PMEGP e-portal maintained by KVIC and complete the application, selecting Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as your union territory and the implementing agency as KVIC, KVIB or the District Industries Centre. For a Mudra loan, apply through your bank branch or through the Jan Samarth portal.
4. Upload the documents; Aadhaar, residence proof, project report, quotations, and the category certificate if you are claiming the higher subsidy band.
5. Attend the task force interview. PMEGP applications are screened by a district-level task force chaired by the District Collector or Development Commissioner, with the DIC and bank representatives present. Carry the originals.
6. Complete bank appraisal. The sponsored file goes to the financing bank branch, which does its own credit appraisal and sanctions the loan. Bring your own-contribution funds when called.
7. Attend EDP training. PMEGP requires the entrepreneur to complete an Entrepreneurship Development Programme before the margin money subsidy claim is settled.
8. Start the unit and keep records. The subsidy is adjusted against the loan only after the unit has run for the prescribed lock-in period, so keep purchase bills, sales records and the loan account in order.

How do I check my application status?

1. Log in to the PMEGP e-portal with your application ID, which shows whether the file is with the implementing agency, the task force or the bank.
2. Ask the District Industries Centre on 0260-2230871, quoting your application ID, for the task force date and the bank to which your file was sponsored.
3. Follow up at the financing bank branch once sponsored. Most delays after sponsorship are at the appraisal stage, not with the DIC.
4. For Mudra, ask the branch for the application reference and, where a branch refuses without reason, escalate to the bank's nodal officer for Mudra.

Why do applications get rejected, and how do you fix them?

• Weak project report with no market basis for the turnover claimed. Rebuild it with realistic figures and supporting quotations.
• Existing unit shown as new. PMEGP funds new units only; an expansion should be routed through the separate second-loan facility for well-performing units.
• Credit history problems. Clear outstanding defaults before applying; the bank will pull your credit report.
• Own contribution not arranged. Keep the 5% or 10% ready before the appraisal stage.
• Activity in the negative list. Change the activity; no appeal will get a prohibited trade financed.
• Category certificate missing while the higher subsidy band is claimed. Attach the certificate or accept the general-category rate.
• EDP training not completed, which stalls the subsidy claim even after the loan is disbursed.

Where do I get help or complain?

• District Industries Centre, Udyog Bhavan, Dunetha, Daman 396215 to 0260-2230871, 0260-2230310.
• U.T. Administration scheme portal at ddd.gov.in, whose scheme finder links to myScheme for the full list of schemes open to residents of the territory.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, the grievance route linked from the U.T. Administration website, for a bank or agency that sits on a sponsored file.
• Banking Ombudsman of the Reserve Bank of India, where a bank refuses a Mudra or PMEGP application without recording a reason.

No fee is payable to the District Industries Centre for guidance or for forwarding an application, and no agent can obtain a sanction on your behalf.