Skilled Youth Startup Scheme (SYSS), Sikkim

What is the Skilled Youth Startup Scheme?

Skilled Youth Startup Scheme (SYSS), sometimes written locally as the Kaushal Yuva Startup Yojana, is a self-employment scheme of the Government of Sikkim launched with effect from 15 August 2020. According to the scheme guidelines issued by the Director (MSME), Commerce & Industries Department, SYSS was framed to "generate equitable entrepreneurial opportunities in rural as well as urban areas of the State", specifically among educated unemployed youth who want to set up a manufacturing, service, business, cooperative or agriculture and allied venture.

The Commerce & Industries Department is the nodal agency at state level. Delivery on the ground is handled by the District Industries Centres (DICs), which appraise projects, judge financial viability and arrange credit linkage with banks and line departments. SYSS is not a grant programme. It is a subsidy that sits on top of a bank loan.

The core mechanism is a back-ended capital subsidy. You bring a small own contribution, a bank sanctions a term loan for the project, and the state government releases a subsidy of 50 percent (for Below Poverty Line applicants) or 35 percent (for everyone else) of the bank-sanctioned project cost directly to that bank. The departmental pamphlet caps the government subsidy at Rs 7 lakh.

Who is eligible for the Skilled Youth Startup Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You hold a Certificate of Identification (COI), in your own name or your father's, backed by a Sikkim Subject Certificate, or a Residential Certificate if you live in an urban area.
• You are unemployed and hold a valid Unemployment Card issued by your Block Administrative Centre (BAC).
• You have passed at least class V from a recognised school. For technical, manufacturing and service-sector projects you must additionally hold a certificate from a technical institute.
• You are within the prescribed age band on the date of filing the application. The SYSS guidelines state 18 to 45 years; the department's own SYSS pamphlet states 18 to 40 years. Because the two official documents differ, confirm the operative age limit at your DIC before you prepare the file.
• Your annual family income is Rs 8 lakh or less. For a married applicant, "family" means self, spouse and children; for an unmarried applicant it means parents and unmarried siblings.
• You can meet the promoter's contribution of 5 to 15 percent of the sanctioned project cost.
• You hold, or can obtain, a trade licence. The guidelines make this mandatory for every kind of project.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• Another member of your family has already taken SYSS benefit. Only one member of a family is eligible under the scheme.
• You have already availed subsidy under CMSS or PMEGP. This is an explicit bar in Clause 5 of the guidelines.
• You are a defaulter to any nationalised bank, financial institution or cooperative bank.
• You are a government servant. Among government families, only the children of Group C and Group D employees may avail the benefit.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 8 lakh a year, or you cannot produce a valid unemployment card.

Applicants in the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) category are given priority and can avail the higher 50 percent subsidy, on production of a PWD certificate from the Social Welfare Department.

What activities are covered and what is the project ceiling?

SYSS fixes a separate maximum admissible project cost for each activity. The Clause 9 table in the guidelines lists nineteen categories:

Bakeries and restaurants carry an employment-generation condition: one employee must be engaged for every Rs 5 lakh of investment. A project not listed in the table can still be considered for nominal funding if the Selection Committee deems it fit.

Project cost includes capital expenditure plus three months of working capital. The cost of land is not admissible. The cost of a ready-built, long lease or rental work shed, workshop or shop can be included, but only for a maximum of 2 years.

How to apply for the Skilled Youth Startup Scheme

SYSS runs entirely offline. There is no online application portal.

1. Collect the Annexure-I application form from the District Industries Centre. Applicants from North and East Sikkim use DIC (E/N), Udyog Bhawan, Tadong, Gangtok; applicants from South and West Sikkim use DIC (S/W), Jorethang.
2. Fill the form in capital letters. It asks for your name, date of birth, voter card number, COI number, area (rural or urban), GPU and district, proposed unit location, preferred bank and branch, academic and technical qualification, PWD or BPL status, the sector of the project, and a break-up of the loan required across work shed, machinery, pre-operative cost and working capital.
3. Get a Detailed Project Report prepared and certified by the concerned line department; Horticulture for a nursery, Animal Husbandry for a piggery, Tourism for a homestay, and so on. Two sets of the proposal are required.
4. Assemble the document set listed in Clause 19 of the guidelines: COI or Sikkim Subject Certificate, two photographs, attested mark sheet, birth certificate, voter card, unemployment card, income certificate, trade licence, and BPL, land or PWD papers where they apply.
5. Submit the complete file in hard copy to the General Manager, DIC, and collect the Annexure-II acknowledgement, which carries your Application ID number and date of receipt. Keep it — every follow-up is tracked against that ID.
6. Attend the Selection Committee appraisal. The Committee, chaired by the General Manager DIC, vets proposals fortnightly in slots of 30 applications and issues in-principle approval.
7. Complete the mandatory Entrepreneur Development Programme at RSETI or another empanelled government training institute, within 60 days of selection. Banks will not release the loan without the training certificate.
8. Complete bank formalities with the nationalised, private, state cooperative bank or State Bank of Sikkim branch you named, and the department will release the back-ended subsidy to that bank once the loan is sanctioned and disbursed.

How is the SYSS subsidy paid out?

The subsidy never reaches the beneficiary as cash. Commerce & Industries Department transfers 50 or 35 percent of the bank-sanctioned project cost online to the public sector bank or PSU financial institution after the bank sanctions and disburses the loan. The bank holds that money as a fixed deposit in the beneficiary's name, and adjusts it against loan repayment only after 3 years from the date of loan disbursement.

This structure has two practical consequences. First, you still service the loan EMI from day one, the subsidy reduces your outstanding at the end, not your monthly instalment. Second, if you close the venture early, the subsidy has not yet vested. Agriculture and allied projects may close the loan after 1 year; for all other projects the lock-in is 3 years, and early closure needs approval from the Commerce & Industries Department.

How to check your SYSS application status

1. Note the Application ID printed on your Annexure-II acknowledgement.
2. Contact the General Manager, DIC where you filed: DIC Gangtok on 9609876534 for East and North Sikkim, DIC Jorethang on 9775979806 for South and West Sikkim.
3. Ask which stage the file is at: DIC scrutiny, Selection Committee in-principle approval, EDP training, bank sanction, or subsidy release.
4. Once the bank has sanctioned your loan, follow the subsidy release with the Commerce & Industries Department headquarters at 03592-202318, since the release committee is chaired by the Secretary of the department.

Why SYSS applications get rejected

• No valid unemployment card from the BAC, or an expired one.
• Family income above Rs 8 lakh, or an income certificate not issued by the BDO or SDM office.
• Subsidy already taken under CMSS or PMEGP by the applicant.
• Another family member already benefited under SYSS.
• Default history with a bank or cooperative bank, which stops the file at the credit-appraisal stage.
• Project cost inflated beyond the Clause 9 ceiling. The guidelines state plainly that exaggeration of project cost with a view only to availing a higher subsidy will not be approved.
• DPR not certified by the line department, the single most common documentation gap.
• No trade licence, which is mandatory for every category.
• EDP training not completed within 60 days of selection, which stalls loan release.

What monitoring does the department carry out?

SYSS carries a strong verification requirement. The DIC concerned conducts physical verification of 50 percent of assisted projects, and 25 percent of the monitored projects are re-verified by a state team chaired by the Director (MSME), with members from the Commerce & Industries Department, the Lead Bank, the financing bank and the relevant line departments. Progress is reviewed by the Director (MSME) on a quarterly basis. A unit that never started, or whose subsidy was diverted, is liable to have the assistance pulled back at the fixed-deposit stage.

Help and grievance redressal

• Commerce & Industries Department, Government of Sikkim, Udyog Bhawan, Below Sikkim Press, Upper Tadong, Gangtok 737102. Phone 03592-202318, email sikkimindustries@gmail.com.
• DIC (E/N), Udyog Bhawan, Tadong, Gangtok, 9609876534, for applicants from East and North Sikkim.
• DIC (S/W), Jorethang, 9775979806, for applicants from South and West Sikkim.
• Grievances can also be lodged through the grievance section of the department website at industries.sikkim.gov.in.

Applying for SYSS costs nothing at the department. No official or agent can charge a fee for filing the Annexure-I form or for "arranging" selection. Bank processing charges, if any, are the bank's own and are disclosed in the loan sanction letter.