**Executive Summary**
This report outlines the performance of the Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP) under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises from FY 2021-22 to 2025-26. Over this five-year period, 39,280 programmes were conducted, benefiting 18,25,181 participants across India. The initiative focused on fostering entrepreneurial culture and utilized a total expenditure of Rs. 266.674 crore to promote self-employment among youth, including SC, ST, and women.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Programme Objectives**
* Motivate young people from various societal sections, including SC, ST, and women, to adopt entrepreneurship or self-employment as a career.
* Promote the establishment of new enterprises and build the capacity of existing MSMEs.
* Inculcate an entrepreneurial culture across the country.
* **Financial Allocation and Expenditure**
* Total funds allocated for the five-year period amounted to Rs. 277.02 crore.
* Total expenditure incurred was Rs. 266.674 crore, showing high fund utilization.
* Annual funding saw a significant increase, rising from an allocation of Rs. 2.00 crore in 2021-22 to Rs. 95.70 crore in 2025-26.
* **Scale and Reach**
* A total of 39,280 programmes were executed nationwide.
* The number of beneficiaries grew substantially over the years; for example, total beneficiaries increased from 59,702 in 2021-22 to 347,042 in 2023-24.
* The data includes comprehensive state-wise and year-wise breakdowns for all States and Union Territories (as detailed in Annexure-I).
**Impact Analysis**
**Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs (including SC, ST, and women)**
**Impact**
They are provided with the motivation and necessary skill sets to pursue self-employment and entrepreneurship, diversifying their career options beyond traditional employment.
**Action Required**
Interested individuals should participate in the ESDP training programmes to gain the skills required for starting new business ventures.
**Existing MSMEs**
**Impact**
The scheme supports the capacity building of current enterprises, helping them improve their operations and sustainability.
**Action Required**
MSME owners should engage with the programme’s capacity-building initiatives to enhance their business culture and efficiency.
**State and UT Administrations**
**Impact**
These entities are responsible for the localized delivery of thousands of programmes, ensuring the scheme reaches diverse geographic regions.
**Action Required**
Administrations must continue to facilitate these programmes and ensure accurate data reporting through the ESDP MIS Portal.
Key Entities Referenced
Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP): A central scheme designed to motivate youth, including SC, ST, and women, to pursue self-employment and entrepreneurship as a career option.
Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises: The nodal ministry responsible for implementing the ESDP and promoting the growth of the MSME sector in India.
Sushri Shobha Karandlaje: The Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises who provided the official status update and expenditure data for the ESDP.
Rajya Sabha: The upper house of the Indian Parliament where the performance data and financial outlays of the ESDP were officially reported.
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
Entrepreneurship and Skill Development
Programme (ESDP) benefits more than 18 Lakh
participants in 5 years
Posted On: 30 MAR 2026 4:12PM by PIB Delhi
A total of 39,280 programmes were conducted, benefiting 18,25,181 participants across the country under
the scheme of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP) during the period from FY
2021-22 to 2025-26 (as on 23.03.2026). The objective of the scheme is to motivate young people
representing different sections of the society, including SC, ST and women, to consider self-employment
or entrepreneurship as a career option.
The details of programmes conducted and persons benefitted during the last five years, year-wise and
State-wise, is given at Annexure-I.
The ultimate objective is to promote new enterprises, build capacity of existing MSMEs and inculcate
entrepreneurial culture. Funds allocated and expenditures incurred under the scheme during the last five
years is as under:
Financial Year Fund allocated Expenditures incurred
(Rs. crore) (Rs. crore)
2021-22 2.00 1.50
2022-23 40.00 38.714
2023-24 65.00 62.84
2024-25 74.32 73.79
2025-26(As on 23.03.2026) 95.70 89.83
Total 277.02 266.674
This information was given by the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sushri
Shobha Karandlaje in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.****
Sunil Kumar Tiwari
E-Mail – hipessi[at]gmail[dot]com
Annexure-I
Year-wise and State-wise number of programmes and beneficiaries of last five years from FY 2021-22
to 2025-26 under the ESDP Scheme:
S. Name of 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
No. State/UT
Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiarie
1 Andhra 27 2295 26 1424 113 5760
Pradesh
2 Arunachal 2 136 27 1087 97 4236
Pradesh
3 Assam 17 1165 379 15350 426 19339
4 Bihar 49 3929 132 6079 232 12265
5 Chhattisgarh 27 1814 105 5266 133 5759
6 Goa 2 119 7 279 36 1510
7 Gujarat 24 1580 196 9651 343 14939
8 Haryana 23 2014 65 3213 143 7688
9 Himachal 15 1317 31 1790 112 5923
Pradesh
10 Jharkhand 27 2570 110 6156 141 8380
11 Karnataka 42 3316 141 6117 244 14301
12 Kerala 27 2335 145 7150 150 887313 Madhya 27 2706 959 44248 975 42055
Pradesh
14 Maharashtra 47 3946 379 15468 386 16669
15 Manipur 7 403 35 1281 41 1722
16 Meghalaya 3 213 20 1209 57 2374
17 Mizoram 2 87 7 210 30 1122
18 Nagaland 8 527 206 6810 556 16561
19 Odisha 32 2559 196 8616 222 10348
20 Punjab 22 2447 126 7269 194 10368
21 Rajasthan 27 2293 148 8820 276 12807
22 Sikkim 20 1140 16 903 39 2004
23 Tamil Nadu 31 3002 235 9433 319 16445
24 Telangana 32 2629 103 4606 275 11548
25 Tripura 20 1384 11 331 80 4072
26 Uttar Pradesh 87 8156 413 23137 483 25918
27 Uttarakhand 15 1380 135 5511 214 7835
28 West Bengal 25 1928 181 8251 274 12197
29 Andaman 2 128 59 2856 56 2502
And Nicobar
Islands
30 Chandigarh 0 0 1 118 8 276
31 Dadar And 3 280 8 608 12 467
Nagar Haveli
And Daman
And Diu32 Delhi 15 1349 23 1385 84 4170
33 Jammu And 7 494 101 3863 714 35280
Kashmir
34 Ladakh 0 0 1 50 2 94
35 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 11 498
36 Puducherry 1 61 5 147 19 737
Total 715 59702 4732 218692 7497 347042
Source: ESDP MIS Portal
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