Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP) benefits more than 18 Lakh participants in 5 years

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 (Rs. crore) Expenditures incurred (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. No. Name of State/UT 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 (As on 23.03.26) Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiaries Programmes Beneficiaries 1 Andhra Pradesh 27 2295 26 1424 113 5760 201 10093 575 30502 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2 136 27 1087 97 4236 135 6401 100 5197 3 Assam 17 1165 379 15350 426 19339 885 43038 575 27239 4 Bihar 49 3929 132 6079 232 12265 288 13454 204 9138 5 Chhattisgarh 27 1814 105 5266 133 5759 164 8080 129 6457 6 Goa 2 119 7 279 36 1510 32 1424 24 1086 7 Gujarat 24 1580 196 9651 343 14939 642 29573 483 21462 8 Haryana 23 2014 65 3213 143 7688 207 10599 431 18813 9 Himachal Pradesh 15 1317 31 1790 112 5923 121 5998 155 8512 10 Jharkhand 27 2570 110 6156 141 8380 159 7447 217 9756 11 Karnataka 42 3316 141 6117 244 14301 380 18280 281 13285 12 Kerala 27 2335 145 7150 150 8873 186 10197 278 13465 13 Madhya Pradesh 27 2706 959 44248 975 42055 1850 77987 1371 59988 14 Maharashtra 47 3946 379 15468 386 16669 1338 56200 1244 52727 15 Manipur 7 403 35 1281 41 1722 125 4773 344 16004 16 Meghalaya 3 213 20 1209 57 2374 152 6101 167 7471 17 Mizoram 2 87 7 210 30 1122 54 2370 48 2443 18 Nagaland 8 527 206 6810 556 16561 373 12862 94 4743 19 Odisha <p style