Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today announced a slew of benefits for Dalit entrepreneurs, including assistance to set up an incubation centre in Hyderabad.

Inaugurating the fourth industrial and trade expo organised by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, he said the State Government would be reserving 22 per cent of the space in all new industrial parks for Dalit entrepreneurs.

Incubation centre Responding to a plea by the trade body for an incubation centre in Hyderabad, the Chief Minister announced that the State Government would provide one acre of land in the city to enable the body to set up the incubation centre, apart from a ₹5 crore grant. He wanted the centre to help Dalit entrepreneurs not only from the State, but across the country.

Pointing out the troubles small Dalit entrepreneurs had to go through to arrange margin money while seeking bank loans, Rao said the State Government would set aside another ₹5 crore towards margin money for entrepreneurs wanting to raise loans.

Training scheme In another incentive, he said the State would include 200 Dalit entrepreneurs in the first batch for various road and other contracts of the government, including those from roads and building and panchayat raj departments. To begin with, it will arrange for training of the prospective entrepreneurs with the National Institute of Construction.

Mandatory procurement Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre would ensure strict implementation of the scheme that makes it mandatory for all public sector units to procure four per cent of their total from Dalit entrepreneurs from April 1.

Ravindra Nath, CMD of National Small Industries Corporation, said the corporation had recently rolled out a programme envisaging setting up of a string of rapid incubation centres for entrepreneur development, which will provide a structured three-month programme.

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