SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest number of applications under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) among all states and Union Territories over the past five financial years, with banks sanctioning more than 98,000 projects, according to data tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Replying to a starred question in the Lok Sabha, Union MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said the time taken for sanctioning loans and releasing margin money subsidy under PMEGP depends on completion of documentation, project appraisal by banks, beneficiaries’ contribution, entrepreneurship training and submission of subsidy claims by financing banks.
The official data shows that banks in Jammu and Kashmir received 36,181 applications in 2021-22, 39,341 in 2022-23, 38,667 in 2023-24, 28,697 in 2024-25 and 10,411 in 2025-26. During the same period, 23,955, 26,777, 25,522, 17,365 and 5,363 applications, respectively, were sanctioned.
The data further shows that margin money subsidy was disbursed for 21,648 projects in 2021-22, 12,023 in 2022-23, 15,065 in 2023-24, 9,863 in 2024-25 and 7,837 in 2025-26.
The minister informed the House that, on average, implementing agencies take 58 days to process PMEGP applications, banks take 70 days to sanction loans, while the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) takes 84 days to release margin money subsidy.
To reduce delays, the government said it regularly reviews pending applications and subsidy claims through state and district-level monitoring committees and quarterly bankers’ meetings. It has also uploaded over 1,000 model project reports on the PMEGP portal, waived educational qualification requirements for smaller projects, exempted entrepreneurship development training for projects up to Rs 2 lakh, established state-level helpdesks and integrated the PMEGP portal with the Jan Samarth portal for end-to-end digital processing.
