Meghalaya Any Business Venture Scheme

What is the Meghalaya Any Business Venture Scheme?

The Meghalaya Any Business Venture Scheme appears in national scheme directories as a support measure of the Directorate of Commerce and Industries, Government of Meghalaya, described as help for entrepreneurs to start a viable business venture in the State.

This guide has to open with an honest caveat. The Directorate's own portal at megindustry.gov.in does not publish this scheme. A full read of the Directorate's Schemes page, Download Forms page, Citizen Corner and sitemap returns no entry called "Any Business Venture Scheme", and no benefit rate, eligibility list, application form or deadline under that name. Rather than invent figures, this page does two useful things instead: it tells you exactly who to ask, and it sets out the entrepreneur support the same offices verifiably do run, so you can see which route actually fits your venture.

If the scheme is live in your district, the officer who will know is the General Manager of your District Commerce and Industries Centre (DCIC).

Which department handles business venture support in Meghalaya?

The Commerce and Industries Department is mandated with the regulation, development and promotion of industrial activity, trade and commerce in Meghalaya. It works through the Directorate of Commerce and Industries at Lower Nongrim Hills, Shillong, and at district level through District Commerce and Industries Centres, which the Department describes as the bodies responsible for implementing its various schemes and programmes.

The Department also provides grants-in-aid to five subsidiaries that a business venture may deal with: Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (MIDC), Mawmluh Cherra Cements Ltd, Meghalaya Khadi and Village Industries Board (MKVIB), Meghalaya Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation Ltd and Meghalaya Bamboo Chips Corporation Ltd.

Who is eligible for business venture support in Meghalaya?

You can approach the Department if:

• You are an entrepreneur in Meghalaya setting up a micro, small or medium enterprise, in manufacturing or services.
• You are a passed-out trainee of a departmental training centre, the Rural Artisans Programme or TRYSEM, or of another trade course the Department has selected you for. This is the eligibility gate for grants-in-aid under the 1982 Rules.
• You are a recognised non-government institution conducting regular training courses in industrial trades listed by the Director of Industries.
• You are a local youth seeking sponsored vocational training, inside or outside the State.
• You are a handloom or handicraft artisan or a practising master craftsman.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are looking for a cash handout unlinked to an enterprise, trade or training. Every verified route the Directorate operates is tied to one of those three.
• You are a trainee who has not completed the course. The 1982 Rules apply to passed-out trainees, routed through the head of the institution.
• You are an institution not recognised by the Directorate of Industries, for the institutional grants-in-aid category.
• You expect automatic sanction. Grants under the 1982 Rules are selected strictly on merit by a Selection Committee, confined by the funds available.

What entrepreneur support does the Directorate verifiably run?

1. Meghalaya Industrial Grants-in-Aid (Non-recurring) Rules, 1982. The objective is to assist passed-out trainees with a set of tools, machines or working capital, and to strengthen recognised non-government institutions conducting industrial trade training. Limits are precise:

Disbursement is conditional on the grantee contributing 10 per cent of the sanctioned amount beforehand.

2. PMEGP. The Department implements the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, the credit-linked subsidy programme of the Ministry of MSME formed by merging PMRY and REGP with effect from 1 April 2008, for generating employment through micro enterprises in rural and urban areas. For an entrepreneur wanting real project finance rather than a tool grant, PMEGP: not a state tool grant; is the substantive route, and applications are filed online at kviconline.gov.in.

3. Training Inside and Outside the State (TIOS). The Department sponsors youths for in-plant training in registered local industrial units or outside the State with a stipend of Rs 500 per trainee per month. The Department has issued an updated TIOS scheme document and a form for institutes to be empanelled.

4. Practicing Mastercraftsman. Local youths are sponsored for training within and outside the State with a stipend of Rs 500 per month, and the practising master craftsman receives an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month. An updated Mastercraftsman scheme document and empanelment form are published on the portal.

5. Departmental vocational training. The Department runs regular courses in knitting, tailoring and embroidery, carpet weaving, carpentry and furniture making, leather, blacksmith and fabrication work, shoe making and machinist trades, with a nominal monthly stipend. On completion, grants-in-aid in cash and kind are made available so trainees can set up self-employment ventures.

6. Entrepreneurship promotion. The Department organises Entrepreneurial Motivation Programmes, Entrepreneurship Development Programmes and Investment Awareness Programmes.

7. UNNATI, 2024. The Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme (UNNATI), 2024 is the current central industrial incentive scheme for the North East, and the Department publishes its brochure, flyer, steering committee minutes and the list of registered units. UNNATI is an industrial unit incentive, not an individual benefit — a person cannot claim a personal payment under it.

8. Single Window Agency. Notified vide No. IND.49/2016/10 dated 19 June 2018, with details of required clearances, NOCs and documents for setting up an enterprise published on investmeghalaya.gov.in.

How to apply for business venture support in Meghalaya

1. Register your enterprise as an MSME. The Department notes that filing of the Entrepreneurs Memorandum has been abolished and replaced by free online MSME registration on the Ministry of MSME portal. This is the record every later step works from.
2. Visit your District Commerce and Industries Centre and ask the General Manager which scheme fits your venture, and specifically whether the "Any Business Venture Scheme" is operative in your district this year and on what terms. The Department maintains DCICs in East Khasi Hills (Shillong), West Jaintia Hills (Jowai), West Khasi Hills (Nongstoin), Ri Bhoi (Nongpoh), West Garo Hills (Tura), East Garo Hills (Williamnagar), South Garo Hills (Baghmara), East Jaintia Hills (Khliehriat), South West Khasi Hills (Mawkyrwat), South West Garo Hills (Ampati) and North Garo Hills (Resubelpara), with the General Manager's name, mobile number and government email published for each on megindustry.gov.in.
3. Take a written project proposal describing the trade, the investment, the employment expected and your own contribution, plus identity and residence proof and bank account details.
4. File the specific application. For a grants-in-aid claim under the 1982 Rules, apply in the form at Schedule B or C to the District Officer of the Industries Department, routed through the head of your training institution. For PMEGP, apply online at kviconline.gov.in. For TIOS or Mastercraftsman sponsorship, use the forms on the Department's Download Forms page.
5. Mind the annual cycle. District Officers must forward the merit list of grants-in-aid applications to the Director of Industries by the first week of May each year, so applying in the second half of the year usually means waiting for the next cycle.
6. Track the outcome. Grants-in-aid selection is made by a Selection Committee chaired by the Director of Industries, with officers from Finance, the Industries Department and the Directorate of Technical Education, and the Joint Director of Industries as Member-Secretary. Sanction is accorded by the Director after the Committee approves.

Why we have not published benefit figures for this scheme

The guardrail this site works to is simple: a figure that is not on an official source does not go on the page. For the Meghalaya Any Business Venture Scheme, the Directorate of Commerce and Industries publishes no rate, no eligibility list, no form and no deadline under that name. Publishing an amount here would mean guessing at public money, and a farmer or entrepreneur who acts on a guessed figure loses time and sometimes money.

What is verifiable is the delivery machinery to 11 District Commerce and Industries Centres with named officers, and the schemes those offices are recorded as running. Use the DCIC contact for your district as the single point of truth, and ask for the scheme name and notification number in writing before you spend anything on the strength of it.

Help and contacts

• Director of Commerce and Industries, Plot No. L/D 015, Lower Nongrim Hills, Shillong 793003, East Khasi Hills. Phone 0364 2226253, mobile +91 9436192625, email industries-meg[at]gov[dot]in.
• General Manager, District Commerce and Industries Centre of your district: names, mobile numbers and emails are published at megindustry.gov.in under Key Contacts, District Offices.
• Single Window Agency and clearances: investmeghalaya.gov.in.
• PMEGP applications: kviconline.gov.in.
• MSME registration: the Ministry of MSME online registration portal, free of charge.

No fee is payable to the Department for an application, and no agent is authorised to charge for arranging a grant, a stipend or a PMEGP subsidy.