September 17 is observed as Vishwakarma Jayanti. It’s also the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The PM Vishwakarma scheme seeks to provide holistic, end-to-end support to beneficiaries through access to collateral-free credit, skill training, modern tools, incentives for digital transactions and market-linkage support.
“The second edition of the scheme will be launched by the Prime Minister with enhanced credit access to the artisan community,” a government official said, requesting anonymity.
The Prime Minister, the official said, is likely to make an announcement in this regard during his Independence Day speech on Saturday. The government has invited 100 PM Vishwakarma beneficiaries as “special guests” to witness the 80th Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort.
Under the scheme, 30 million applicants have successfully registered after a three-stage verification process, while more than 600,000 collateral-free loans worth ₹5,259 crore have been disbursed.
The gap between registrations and credit uptake has emerged as a key implementation challenge. At its October 10, 2025 meeting, the scheme’s National Steering Committee approved measures to improve loan sanctions and disbursements, including revisiting pending applications, offering smaller loans of ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh to reduce the EMI burden, and increasing bank participation in awareness camps and skill-training centres.
Banks were also directed to review cases rejected because beneficiaries could not be contacted, while beneficiaries who declined loans were required to provide written undertakings. The MSME ministry, in coordination with the Department of Financial Services, stepped up outreach through SMS messages in 12 regional languages and calls from MSME and bank call centres.
At present, a beneficiary should not have availed loans under similar credit-based schemes of the central or state governments, such as the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) or Mudra, in the past five years.
Under the first tranche of the loan, the government provides up to ₹1 lakh at a concessional interest rate of 5 per cent. After full repayment of the first tranche, the beneficiary is eligible to avail of a second tranche loan of up to ₹2 lakh. The first tranche is repayable over 18 months, while the second tranche has a 30-month repayment period. With the second edition of the scheme, the government is expected to expand the loan amount available to beneficiaries.
Modi announced the scheme in his Independence Day speech in 2023. “In the days to come, we will launch a scheme on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, benefiting individuals skilled in traditional craftsmanship, particularly from the OBC community. Carpenters, goldsmiths, masons, laundry workers, barbers, and such families will be empowered through the Vishwakarma Yojana, which will begin with an allocation of around ₹13,000-15,000 crore,” Modi had said.
