Odisha has emerged as one of the top performers in the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), securing fifth position in the country in loan approvals to young and budding entrepreneurs in 2025-26.
PMEGP, a credit-linked subsidy programme administered by the Ministry of MSME, aims at promoting self-employment among the youth. Under the initiative, individuals can avail bank loans up to Rs 50 lakh for manufacturing and Rs 20 lakh for services, with subsidies ranging from 15 to 35 per cent depending on category of projects in urban and rural areas.
As per the PMEGP dashboard, of around 9,924 applications received from 30 districts in the current fiscal so far, 8,327 have been approved by the state government for sanction of loans by the banks. The accelerated pace of scrutiny and loan processing, considered a key indicator of the performance, has led to the release of more than Rs 62.71 crore margin money by 15 banks to the beneficiaries to start new ventures across sectors.
Being closely monitored by the PMO, the scheme has also gained traction among youth seeking stable income opportunities, not dependent on any government or corporate employment. The loan applications comprised 5,858 from general category unemployed youth, 1,392 from SCs, 1,828 from OBCs, 783 from STs and 63 from minorities.
