NEW DELHI, October 11 — The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME) in joint coordination with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on Sunday announced that the flagship 'PM Vishwakarma' Central Sector Scheme has crossed 25 lakh three-tier verified artisan registrations across 18 traditional trades, accompanied by ₹14,000 crore in collateral-free enterprise credit disbursements.
Under the ₹13,000 crore scheme architecture, traditional craftspeople—working with their hands and tools under the guru-shishya parampara—receive a PM Vishwakarma Digital ID and Certificate, a ₹15,000 e-RUPI toolkit incentive voucher, and foundational skill upgradation stipends of ₹500 per day. Subsequently, beneficiaries access collateral-free credit up to ₹3 lakh in two tranches (₹1 lakh over 18 months in Tranche-1, followed by ₹2 lakh over 30 months in Tranche-2) at a fixed concessional interest rate of 5 percent, backed by an 8 percent central interest subvention and CGTMSE credit guarantee coverage.
To accelerate value-chain integration, the National Committee for Marketing (NCM) has onboarded over 6 lakh certified Vishwakarma artisans onto the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portals, providing quality certification, branding, and packaging support.
The operational structure of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme (launched on September 17, 2023, as a 100% Central Sector Scheme spanning FY 2023-24 to 2027-28), the 18 covered traditional trades (including carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, sculptors, cobblers, masons, and traditional toy makers), and e-RUPI purpose-specific digital vouchers are high-yield syllabus topics for UPSC Civil Services (GS-II & GS-III) and banking examinations.