Promotion of Tribal Products from North Eastern Region (PTP-NER)

What is PTP-NER?

Promotion of Tribal Products from North Eastern Region (PTP-NER) is a Central Sector scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, implemented by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). Its full name in government records is "Marketing and Logistics Development for Promotion of Tribal Products from North-Eastern Region".

PTP-NER was launched on 18 April 2023 at Imphal, Manipur, with an outlay of Rs 143 crore. The problem it addresses is specific: tribal artisans in the North East make high-value craft but sit far from buyers, with weak logistics, no branding and no assured offtake. PTP-NER puts a government buyer, a logistics chain and a marketing platform behind them.

Main features

• Central Sector scheme, 100% funded by the Government of India.
• Covers eight states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.
• Artisans are identified and enrolled through Tribal Artisan Empanelment Melas (TAeM) held district by district.
• Support covers procurement, logistics, skill development, entrepreneurship, product development, branding and packaging.
• Implementation partners include NEHHDC, India Post for logistics, and state government departments and agencies.

Who is eligible for PTP-NER?

You can be empanelled if:

• You belong to a notified Scheduled Tribe and hold a valid ST certificate.
• You live and work in one of the eight North Eastern states covered by the scheme.
• You are a practising artisan or craft producer; handloom and textiles, bamboo and cane, pottery, jewellery, paintings, or a collector or processor of minor forest produce.
• You can present samples of your own work for assessment at the mela.

Self-help groups, artisan clusters and Van Dhan producer groups are also empanelled as units.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a Scheduled Tribe member, or cannot produce an ST certificate.
• You live outside the eight North Eastern states. Tribal artisans elsewhere in India are not eligible under PTP-NER and should look at TRIFED's regular supplier empanelment or at Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana.
• You are a trader or middleman rather than a producer. PTP-NER is designed to remove the intermediary layer, not fund it.

There is no cash grant to apply for. Anyone who asks you for money to "get your name into PTP-NER" is not acting for TRIFED.

What documents are required for PTP-NER empanelment?

How to apply for PTP-NER

PTP-NER empanelment is an offline, camp-based process. There is no online registration form for artisans.

1. Watch for the announcement of a Tribal Artisan Empanelment Mela (TAeM) in your district, issued by TRIFED, the state Tribal Welfare or Handloom and Handicrafts department, or the District Information and Public Relations office.
2. Attend the mela with your ST certificate, Aadhaar card, bank passbook and samples of your products.
3. Register at the TRIFED desk and have your craft and production capacity assessed by the empanelment team from TRIFED and NEHHDC.
4. If empanelled, provide your bank details for procurement payments and note the categories and price points recorded for your products.
5. Take part in the training capsule offered for your craft, where the team identifies you for skill upgrading, design or packaging support.
6. Supply products against TRIFED purchase orders; goods are moved through the India Post logistics arrangement and sold through Tribes India outlets and online channels.

If no mela has been held in your district yet, register your interest with the District Tribal Welfare Officer or the state handloom and handicrafts corporation so your name is on the list for the next phase.

What does PTP-NER give an artisan?

PTP-NER is not a subsidy scheme. What an empanelled artisan gets is:

• Assured procurement: TRIFED buys the product and pays into the artisan's bank account, removing the search for a buyer.
• Logistics; India Post moves goods from remote locations that private couriers do not serve economically.
• Skill and design training through the training capsules identified at the mela.
• Branding and packaging support, so products sell under the Tribes India brand rather than as anonymous craft.
• Market access through Tribes India retail outlets, exhibitions and e-commerce channels.

PTP-NER progress so far

According to TRIFED and the Press Information Bureau, phase 1 in April-May 2023 covered eight states and 38 districts, with 64 Tribal Artisan Empanelment Melas. TRIFED reached 2,526 artisans from 44 tribes, empanelled 1,056 and identified 1,465 artisans for training capsules.

PTP-NER 2.0, the second phase, ran from 21 September to 10 November 2023, with TRIFED and NEHHDC teams covering 29 districts to reach further artisan clusters.

Related schemes for tribal producers

• Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana — Van Dhan Vikas Kendras for value addition to minor forest produce, open across India.
• Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce through MSP: price support for forest produce collectors.
• Scheme of Grant-in-Aid to Voluntary Organisations working for the Welfare of Scheduled Tribes, the route for NGOs supporting artisan groups.

Each is covered separately on this site.

Where to get help

• TRIFED PTP-NER page: trifed.tribal.gov.in/ptp-ner
• NEHHDC offices in the North Eastern states, for craft and design queries.
• District Tribal Welfare Officer, for mela schedules and empanelment status.

Empanelment under PTP-NER is free. No agent can charge you for it, and no official will ask you to pay to be listed as an artisan.

How to check your PTP-NER empanelment or payment status

PTP-NER has no applicant portal, login ID or tracking number, since empanelment happens face to face at a Tribal Artisan Empanelment Mela (TAeM) rather than through a form. Checking status therefore means following up with the people who actually hold your record, not a website.

1. Confirm empanelment first with the mela desk itself. At the end of the mela, the TRIFED and NEHHDC team tells you on the spot whether you have been empanelled, and if so, into which product category and at what indicative price point. Keep any slip, list entry or acknowledgement they give you; it is the only paper record most artisans get.
2. Follow up with the District Tribal Welfare Officer. This office coordinates the mela locally and typically retains a copy of the empanelled artisans' list for the district. If you are unsure whether your name made the final list, this is the first place to ask.
3. Contact the TRIFED regional office for the North East. TRIFED runs PTP-NER centrally and can confirm empanelment status and, once you have supplied goods, the status of a procurement order against your name.
4. Check payment status through your bank account, not a scheme dashboard. Procurement payments are made by direct bank transfer once TRIFED accepts your products, so the practical way to confirm payment is a bank statement or passbook entry referencing TRIFED or NEHHDC, not an online tracking number.
5. For training capsules, ask the implementing agency named at your mela. If you were identified for a skill upgrading or design training capsule, TRIFED or NEHHDC schedules and communicates it separately from empanelment; there is no separate tracking reference for this either, so a direct call or visit is the reliable route.
6. Use the state handloom and handicrafts department as a fallback. In several North Eastern states this department co-runs melas with TRIFED and can redirect a status query to the right TRIFED contact if the District Tribal Welfare Officer is unable to help.

Because PTP-NER is camp-based, there is no SMS alert, email confirmation or reference number system comparable to schemes with online applications. An artisan who wants written proof of empanelment should ask for one in person at the mela or from the District Tribal Welfare Officer's office rather than expect it to arrive automatically.

Common reasons artisans are turned away or not empanelled under PTP-NER

No Scheduled Tribe certificate, or a certificate that does not hold up. Empanelment is restricted to notified Scheduled Tribe members, and the mela desk verifies this document on the spot. An expired certificate, one issued by an authority other than the competent revenue authority of the state, or one with a name or address mismatch against Aadhaar, is common grounds for the desk to withhold empanelment pending correction. The fix is to get the certificate reissued or corrected by the same revenue authority before the next mela phase, not to argue the point at the desk.

Living or working outside the eight covered states. PTP-NER is geographically restricted to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. An artisan whose residence or production base is outside this belt is not eligible regardless of tribal status or craft quality, and no appeal changes this; the applicable route instead is TRIFED's general Tribes India supplier empanelment or the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana network.

Weak or unrepresentative product samples. Since empanelment is an assessment of actual craft output rather than a paper application, artisans who bring samples that are incomplete, poorly finished, or not representative of what they can reliably produce at volume are often deferred rather than empanelled outright. Bringing a fuller, more consistent set of finished pieces, and being ready to describe realistic production capacity, addresses this at the next opportunity.

Applying as a trader rather than a producer. PTP-NER is built to buy directly from the person who makes the product, cutting out the middleman. Someone who presents goods they have purchased or aggregated from others, rather than made themselves or through their own group, is not empanelled as an individual artisan under this scheme; group aggregation is only recognised where it takes the form of a registered SHG or Van Dhan producer group.

Missing bank account or mismatched bank details. Because all procurement payments move by bank transfer, an artisan without an active account, or with an account whose name does not match the Aadhaar and ST certificate details, cannot be paid even after empanelment. Opening or correcting the account before the mela, and carrying the passbook to it, avoids this hold-up.

Missing the mela window entirely. TRIFED runs empanelment in phases, district by district, and there is no standing enrolment outside these windows. Artisans who are unaware a mela has already passed through their district, or who arrive after registration for that day has closed, have to wait for the next phase; registering interest with the District Tribal Welfare Officer or the state handloom and handicrafts department in the meantime keeps a name on the list for the following round.

Category or price-point disagreement at assessment. Occasionally an artisan's craft is assessed into a lower category, or at a price point the artisan considers too low, and this can look like rejection when it is really a valuation outcome. Raising this with the TRIFED or NEHHDC assessors at the mela, or with the regional office afterward, is the way to seek a review; it is not something a District Tribal Welfare Officer can override locally.