Revamped Scheme Of Fund for Regeneration Of Traditional Industries (SFURTI)

The SFURTI full form is the Scheme for Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries, an innovative cluster development programme from the Ministry of MSME. The scheme focuses on bringing traditional artisans and industries together in cluster-based groups to improve their competitiveness, enhance productivity, and promote sustainable growth.

It also assists in setting up Common Facility Centres (CFCs), supplying modern tools and equipment, developing innovative products, and improving infrastructure to help traditional industries meet evolving market demands.

Also Read: What is the MSME Act 2015?

There are various benefits of the SFURTI Scheme for the traditional industry artisans and rural entrepreneurs. Some of the benefits are listed below:

Financial Support for Clusters

One of the major benefits of the SFURTI scheme is that it offers financial support to the clusters. Under the programme, the cluster receives funding ranging from ₹2.5 crores to ₹5 crores. These funds can be used for infrastructure creation, technology upgrades, and other business activities.

Infrastructure Facilities

SFURTI supports the establishment of Common Facility Centres (CFCs) equipped with modern machinery, testing facilities, storage units, packaging infrastructure, and other shared resources. These facilities help artisans reduce production costs and improve product quality.

Skill Development

The scheme offers training and capacity-building programmes to help artisans and rural entrepreneurs enhance their technical skills, adopt improved production methods, develop new products, and strengthen their business and managerial capabilities.

Market Access

SFURTI helps traditional industries expand their market reach through branding, packaging, product design support, exhibitions, trade fairs, digital marketing, and e-commerce initiatives. This enables artisans to connect with a wider customer base.

As mentioned, the scheme was later revised and then introduced as revamped SFURTI. The purpose of revising the scheme is to offer stronger support to clusters to become more sustainable and competitive.

This can be done by increasing funding for each cluster, assigning greater responsibilities to Technical Agencies (TAs), improving financial planning, and developing better business strategies.

A Revamped SFURTI promotes long-term sustainability by establishing Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and includes several new features to support the overall development and growth of SFURTI clusters.

Also Read: What is MSME and Why Is It Importance

As per the revised SFURTI guidelines, the objectives of revamped SFURTI are as follows:

• To create long-term livelihood opportunities for traditional artisans and rural entrepreneurs.
• It also aims to support the development of new products, innovative designs, better packaging, etc., to increase the reach and appeal of traditional products.
• The scheme also provides training programmes and exposure visits to help artisans upgrade their skills, adopt modern techniques, and improve productivity.
• It also encourages active stakeholder participation to build effective management systems that can identify challenges, seize opportunities, and ensure smooth cluster operations.

The scheme has three types of clusters, which involve 5000 to 29500 artisans. Let us have a look at the clusters and the possible artisan coverage under each cluster.

The revamped Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries covers three kinds of project interventions, which are:

Soft Interventions

The Revamped SFURTI offers several soft interventions to strengthen traditional industry clusters and enhance artisans' capabilities. These interventions include:

• Awareness and Counselling: Organises awareness programmes, counselling sessions, motivation activities, and trust-building initiatives for artisans and cluster members.
• Skill Development and Capacity Building: Offers training across the entire value chain, with a special focus on digital learning modules for easy access and continuous learning.
• Machine Handling Training: Provides training on the proper use, operation, and maintenance of machinery and equipment.
• Institutional Development: Supports the creation and strengthening of institutions for better cluster management and coordination.
• Exposure Visits: Arranges visits to successful clusters and industries to help artisans learn best practices and modern techniques.

Hard Interventions

Under the hard interventions, the scheme will help in the creation of below mentioned facilities:

• Common Facility Centres (CFCs): Establish shared production facilities, worksheds, and IP-enabled CCTV surveillance for cluster operations.
• Machinery Procurement: Provides financial support for the purchase of modern machinery and equipment.
• Working Capital & Raw Material Banks: Supports initial production costs and raw material procurement through revolving funds.
• Tools & Technology Upgradation: Supplies improved tools, upgraded charkhas, and modern equipment to enhance productivity.
• Warehousing Facilities: Creates storage infrastructure for raw materials and finished products.
• Training Centres: Sets up dedicated centres for skill development and technical training of artisans.

Thematic Interventions

In addition to soft and hard interventions, the Revemped SFURTI scheme also focuses on cross-cutting thematic interventions. These include:

• Brand Building: Supports branding and promotional campaigns to increase product visibility.
• Digital Marketing: Encourages the use of new media platforms to reach a wider audience.
• E-commerce Support: Helps clusters sell their products through online marketplaces.
• Innovation: Promotes new ideas, products, and business practices to improve competitiveness.
• Research & Technology Upgradation: Supports research, development, and adoption of modern technologies for high-performing clusters.

The financial assistance offered under the Revamped SFURTI scheme is based on the type of cluster and the number of artisans.

The following criteria need to be met by a proposed cluster for approval:

• The cluster should consist of 500 to 1,000 beneficiary families or geographically concentrated micro-enterprises.
• Beneficiaries should be located within a limited geographical area, usually covering one or two revenue subdivisions of a district.
• A minimum of 10% of the total clusters are reserved for development in the North Eastern Region (NER), Jammu & Kashmir, and Hill States.

The process for applying to the cluster under the Revamped Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries is straightforward. Here are the steps eligible agencies or organisations need to follow:

• Step 1: Go to the official SFURTI Portal and click on the “Sign Up for New Proposal” option.
• Step 2: Enter the correct details, such as the agency type and other information, to create an account.
• Step 3: After creating an account, log in and fill out the application form correctly.
• Step 4: Submit the relevant documents, such as the business registration, audit statement and list of governing bodies.
• Step 5: Review the application carefully and submit it through the portal. The concerned nodal agency will verify the proposal and process it for further evaluation and approval.

Here is the list of documents eligible agencies need to submit:

• Copy of registration of the agency or organisation
• List of the Governing Body or Board of Directors
• Details of the organisation's areas of operation and activities
• Annual audited financial statements and Income Tax returns for the last three years
• Bank account details of the implementing agency
• Copies of MoUs or formal partnerships with other organisations, if any
• Recognition certificates, awards, or achievements received by the organisation
• Details of the project team or staff with experience in cluster development
• Endorsement or recommendation from the promoting organisation, wherever applicable
• Any additional documents specified by the concerned nodal agency

The revamped Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries is a popular scheme to promote traditional artisans and businesses. The scheme offers financial assistance to rural entrepreneurs. Under this scheme, they receive skills development training and other benefits that help them grow.

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