Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana (Uttar Pradesh)

What is Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana?

Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana is an Uttar Pradesh state scheme launched in 2018 for traditional artisans, the hereditary craft workers who form the backbone of village and small-town economies. It is run by the MSME and Export Promotion Department through the Directorate of Industries, and delivered on the ground by the District Industries Centre (DIC) in each district. Applications are handled through the state's MSME single-window system.

The scheme's logic is straightforward. A carpenter, a blacksmith or a potter in Uttar Pradesh typically works with tools inherited from a previous generation, using methods that have not changed in decades, and cannot get an institutional loan because there is no formal record of the enterprise. Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana addresses all three at once: it teaches modern technique, it puts a set of modern tools in the artisan's hands, and it creates the paper trail that makes a bank willing to lend.

The package has three parts:

• Six days of free residential skill training. The artisan is trained in improved technique, quality control, costing and basic business management. Boarding and lodging during the six days are provided free.
• A free modern toolkit matched to the artisan's own trade, distributed on completion of the training. The toolkit is reported at a value of around Rs 10,000, and it is technology-based rather than a duplicate of traditional hand tools.
• A linked loan facility at concessional terms for setting up or expanding the trade, taken through a bank with the state's support. Loan sizes are reported from Rs 10,000 up to Rs 10 lakh depending on the activity and the bank's appraisal; the loan itself is a bank product, not a grant, and is subject to normal credit assessment.

The transliterated name "Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana UP" is what most artisans search for, and it should not be confused with the separate central PM Vishwakarma scheme launched in 2023.

Who is eligible for Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana?

According to the state MSME portal, three conditions govern selection.

You can apply if:

• You are a legal resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• You have completed 18 years of age on the date of application. No upper age limit is published.
• You actually practise one of the 20 notified traditional trades. The core eight are carpenter (badhai), blacksmith (lohar), barber (nai), tailor (darzi), cobbler (mochi), basket weaver, goldsmith (sunar) and potter (kumhar). Other hereditary craft occupations are included in the state's notified list, and your District Industries Centre holds the current version for your district.
• You have not received a toolkit under any government scheme in the last two years.
• You hold a bank account, needed for the loan linkage.

No minimum educational qualification applies. The scheme is designed for hands-on craft workers, and literacy is not a bar.

You cannot apply if:

• You are under 18 years of age.
• You are not a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• Your occupation is not among the notified trades. A shopkeeper, a trader or a service provider outside the craft list is not eligible, however small the business.
• You received a toolkit from any government scheme within the previous two years, this is the exclusion the DIC checks most carefully, against Aadhaar.
• You are applying only for the loan without intending to attend the training. The training is the gateway; the toolkit and the credit linkage both follow it.

Being selected for training does not by itself guarantee a loan. The loan component is sanctioned by a bank after appraisal, and an artisan with a poor credit record may be trained and given a toolkit but still be refused credit.

What documents do you need?

How to apply for Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana

Application is online, free, and followed by an in-person verification at the District Industries Centre.

1. Open the state MSME single-window portal and go to the schemes list, where Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana is listed among the department's artisan schemes.
2. Create your profile and register, using your mobile number and Aadhaar. Keep the login you create, you will need it to check your application status later.
3. Select Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana from the beneficiary section of your profile and open the application form.
4. Fill in your details; name, father's or husband's name, date of birth, full address with district and block, category, your trade, how long you have practised it, and your bank account number and IFSC code.
5. Upload the documents — Aadhaar, residence proof, age proof, trade proof, bank passbook first page and photograph: then submit and note the application number.
6. Attend document verification at the District Industries Centre when called. Take all originals. The DIC confirms your trade, your residence and that no toolkit was issued to you in the last two years.
7. Attend the six-day residential training on the dates in your call letter. Boarding and lodging are provided; carry your Aadhaar and the call letter.
8. Collect the toolkit at the end of the training, and take up the loan application with the bank the DIC refers you to, if you want the credit component.

Selection is district-wise against an annual target, so a complete and correctly verified application submitted early in the financial year has a better chance of reaching a batch than one filed late.

What happens during the six-day training?

The residential training is short by design, six days is what a working artisan can give up without losing a month's earnings. In that time the curriculum covers improved production technique for the specific trade, quality and finishing standards that let the artisan sell at a better price, safe handling of the new tools, elementary costing so the artisan knows the real margin on a piece, and the basics of running the work as a business: pricing, record-keeping and how to approach a bank.

Training is conducted at institutions identified by the Directorate of Industries, usually at the district or divisional headquarters. Because it is residential, an artisan from a distant block does not have to travel daily.

Common reasons applications get rejected

• Trade not on the notified list. Check the current list at your DIC before applying rather than assuming your occupation qualifies.
• Toolkit received within the last two years under this or another scheme, detected on the Aadhaar check.
• No usable proof of practising the trade. A short certificate from the Gram Pradhan, ward member or a trade association carries real weight here, and costs nothing to obtain.
• Residence proof from outside Uttar Pradesh, or a domicile certificate that has lapsed.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, which blocks the DBT and the loan linkage.
• Absent at verification or at the training batch. Missing the call-letter dates usually means waiting for the next batch, and repeated absence closes the file.

Helpline and grievance redressal

• State MSME helpline: 155343, available Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm.
• WhatsApp support: 8957540649, listed on the state MSME portal.
• Email: ramp@upsic.in.
• District level: the General Manager, District Industries Centre of your district is the officer responsible for the scheme locally and holds the batch lists.
• State grievance portal: jansunwai.up.nic.in, for a tracked written complaint.

Every part of Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana that the state provides is free. The online application, the six-day residential training, and the toolkit. Only the optional bank loan carries a cost, and that is interest on borrowed money, not a fee. No official or agent may charge an artisan for selection into a training batch.

How to check your application status

Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana does not run on a fixed sanction date, so the only reliable way to know where an application stands is to check directly, either online or through the District Industries Centre (DIC).

1. Log back into the state MSME single-window portal at msme1connect.up.gov.in using the same mobile number and Aadhaar-linked login created at the time of registration. The applicant dashboard shows the current stage of the application: submitted, under verification at the DIC, selected for a training batch, training completed, or toolkit issued.
2. Keep the application number safe from the day of submission. It is the reference the DIC and the portal both use to pull up a record, and quotes it faster than searching by name or Aadhaar.
3. Call the state MSME helpline on 155343, available Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, and give the application number and district. The helpline can confirm whether an application has cleared document verification and whether a batch has been notified for that district.
4. Use WhatsApp support on 8957540649 as an alternative to the phone line, useful when a call is inconvenient or the helpline is busy; the same application number is needed.
5. Visit or call the District Industries Centre in person, since the DIC is the office that actually schedules verification and issues batch call letters. For an applicant who has cleared the online stage but heard nothing for several weeks, the General Manager, DIC is the right person to ask, since district-wise selection against an annual target means timelines vary from one district to another.
6. Watch for an SMS or a batch call letter to the mobile number given at registration. This is how the DIC notifies a selected applicant of the verification date and, later, the training dates; a missed message is one of the more common reasons an applicant thinks their file is idle when it has actually already moved forward.
7. Escalate through jansunwai.up.nic.in if an application has been pending well beyond a reasonable district timeline with no response from the DIC or the helpline. A written grievance on this portal is tracked and gets a reply, unlike a phone call that may not be logged.

There is no email-based tracking number or SMS shortcode specific to this scheme beyond the batch call letter, so the portal login, the helpline, and the district office remain the three working channels for a status check.