Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra (Gujarat)

What is Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra?

Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra is a Gujarat state scheme run by the Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries under the Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat. According to the Commissioner's own scheme page, the scheme "aims to provide infrastructure facilities at village level to the artisans" by paying for a Common Facility Centre that a registered organisation builds and operates in a village.

The scheme is often written in Gujarati transliteration as Gramodyog Vikas Kendra, and both spellings refer to the same programme. Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra replaced two older schemes. The Gramodyog Sankul Yojana and the Common Work-shed Scheme, and has run as a single consolidated scheme since February 2000.

The problem the scheme is built around is straightforward. A weaver, potter, carpenter, blacksmith or bamboo worker in a Gujarat village usually works at home, with no covered work space, no shared machinery, no storage for finished goods and no place to hold a training or design session. Buying a shed and a set of machines is beyond one artisan. Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra pays an institution to build that shared space once, and then lets 25 or more artisans in the village use it.

What the centre is expected to contain

• A work-shed where artisans can work under cover through the year.
• An office and a godown so raw material and finished stock can be stored.
• Electrical connection and fittings for the shed.
• A common set of tools and equipment for the trade concerned.
• A small revolving fund so raw material can be bought in bulk.
• A budget line for training, design inputs and market promotion.

Who is eligible for Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra?

You can apply if your organisation:

• Is a registered NGO, co-operative society or trust. The scheme is institutional; the grant is sanctioned to the body, not to a person.
• Has two to three years of working experience in the relevant field.
• Owns 1,000 to 1,200 square feet of land, or has an equivalent building arrangement, for the centre.
• Can arrange and manage the site, the building, the raw material and the staff needed to run the centre.
• Can create employment for a minimum of 25 artisans in village industries.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are an individual artisan or a single family. Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra has no individual benefit component. An artisan who wants a personal toolkit, a loan or a margin-money subsidy should look instead at the other schemes of the Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries.
• Your organisation is newly registered and cannot show two to three years of work in the field.
• You do not own the land and have no building arrangement of the required size.
• The plot is still agricultural land without an NA conversion order. A work-shed cannot legally be built on it.
• The proposal covers fewer than 25 artisans, or the artisan list cannot be verified in the field.

Because the assistance is a fixed unit cost rather than a means-tested benefit, there is no personal income limit, no age limit and no caste condition attached to the applicant organisation. What matters is registration, experience, land and the artisan base.

How much assistance does Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra provide?

The Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries fixes the unit cost of one Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra at Rs 13.00 lakh, split component-wise.

Two points about this table matter in practice. First, the money is tied to the component; an organisation cannot move the Rs 10 lakh construction share into equipment or into salaries. Second, the Rs 0.50 lakh revolving fund is working capital for the centre and is expected to keep turning over as raw material is bought and finished goods are sold, not to be spent once.

Release is normally staged against progress; construction against the building milestones, equipment against purchase bills: rather than paid as a single lump sum in advance. The District Industries Centre handling the file confirms the release pattern applicable in the sanction year.

How to apply for Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra

1. Open the e-Kutir portal at e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in and register your organisation as a new user, then verify the mobile number and set a password.
2. Complete the user profile with the organisation's registration number, address, district, taluka and bank account details. An incomplete profile blocks the scheme form.
3. From the scheme list, select Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra and open the application form.
4. Fill the form tab by tab — organisation details, land and building details, the component-wise cost estimate against the Rs 13 lakh pattern, and the list of the 25 or more artisans to be covered.
5. Upload the mandatory documents, registration certificate, experience proof, land ownership record, NA certificate, project estimate and bank details, entering the reference number asked for against each.
6. Review every tab, submit the application, and save the application number shown on screen. Print the acknowledgement.
7. Submit the signed hard copy with self-attested annexures at the District Industries Centre of your district when asked, and keep the receipt.

How to apply offline through the District Industries Centre

1. Visit the District Industries Centre (DIC) of the district where the centre will be built and ask for the Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra application form and the current checklist.
2. Prepare the file: registration certificate, two to three years of experience proof, land papers with the NA certificate, drawing and estimate for the shed, artisan list and bank details.
3. Submit the file at the DIC and obtain a dated acknowledgement with an inward number.
4. Cooperate with the site inspection. A DIC officer visits the plot, confirms the land measurement and cross-checks the artisan list before the proposal moves for sanction.

The DIC is also the office to approach for the current year's target, since the number of centres sanctioned in a district in a year is limited by the budget allotted to the Commissionerate.

How do you check the status of a Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra application?

1. Log in to e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in with the credentials used to apply.
2. Open the application status option and enter your application number.
3. Note the stage shown: submitted, under scrutiny, query raised, inspected, sanctioned or rejected.
4. If a query is raised, upload the document asked for within the time given. Queries left unanswered are the most common reason a live file goes cold.

For anything the portal does not answer, the e-Kutir helpdesk numbers 9909926280 and 9909926180 are published on the portal, and the District Industries Centre holds the physical file.

Why Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra applications get rejected

• Land is still agricultural. No NA conversion order means no construction approval, and the proposal stops there.
• Land is smaller than 1,000 square feet, or is owned by a trustee personally rather than by the registered body.
• Experience cannot be evidenced. Two to three years of work has to show up in audited accounts or annual reports, not only in a covering letter.
• The artisan list does not stand up to inspection: fewer than 25 artisans, or names that cannot be traced in the village.
• The estimate does not follow the component pattern, for example claiming more than Rs 10 lakh for construction.
• Documents are uploaded without reference numbers on e-Kutir, which leaves the form incomplete even though it appears submitted.

Most of these are correctable. An organisation that fixes the land status and rebuilds the estimate along the sanctioned pattern can apply again in a following year.

Where do you raise a grievance about Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra?

• First level: the General Manager, District Industries Centre, who holds your file.
• Second level: the Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries, Gandhinagar, through the departmental website at cottage.gujarat.gov.in.
• Portal issues: the e-Kutir helpdesk on 9909926280 or 9909926180.

Applying under Gramodhyog Vikas Kendra costs nothing. No agent can charge a fee for "getting the centre sanctioned", and any assistance sanctioned is paid into the registered organisation's own bank account.