- SC/ST entrepreneurs’ participation in public procurement has grown significantly under the National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) Scheme, reaching ₹3,738 crore in 2025–26.
- Despite a 37x increase since 2015–16, the share still remains at 1.59%, below the mandated 4% target.
- The scheme supports entrepreneurs through credit, marketing, and GeM integration, but requires a clearer roadmap to meet policy goals.
A MECHANICAL ENGINEER FROM HAZARIBAGH
Balwant Lal Suman spent over fifteen years as a mechanical engineer before deciding he wanted to build something of his own. From Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, with no inherited capital and no existing network into government procurement, he founded Rigtech Infra, a manufacturing unit producing pipes for infrastructure applications. The dream was straightforward and difficult in equal measure: build a business that could actually win government tenders, not just survive on the margins of the private market.
His story, documented in a recent PIB release, is one of several the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has used to illustrate the on-ground impact of the National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) Scheme. It is a programme that, since its launch in October 2016, has tried to do something India’s formal economy has historically failed at: ensuring Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs get a real, structural pathway into public procurement, not just policy language promising one.
| 37x Procurement Growth (2015–16 → 2025–26) | ₹3,738 Cr Procurement Value (2025–26) | 1.59% Share of Public Procurement | 1.79 Lakh+ Entrepreneurs Benefited (To Date) |
THE NUMBER THAT TELLS THE REAL STORY
Public procurement from SC/ST-owned Micro and Small Enterprises has grown 37-fold. It went from Rs 99.37 crore, representing just 0.07% of total public procurement, in 2015-16, to Rs 3,738.34 crore, representing 1.59%, in 2025-26. The Public Procurement Policy for MSEs Order, 2012 mandates a minimum 4 per cent procurement sub-target specifically for SC/ST-owned enterprises. Even after this 37-fold growth, current performance still sits well below the statutory target.
That gap matters, and it is worth stating plainly rather than glossing over: a 37-fold increase is a genuinely significant achievement for any government scheme, but 1.59% against a 4% mandate means SC/ST enterprises are still capturing less than half of what policy explicitly entitles them to.
HOW THE SCHEME ACTUALLY HELPS
The NSSH Scheme functions less like a subsidy programme and more like a professional support unit, addressing the structural barriers that have historically kept marginalised entrepreneurs out of formal procurement markets. The Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme component provided Suman with capital support for his manufacturing setup. Other beneficiaries, like a Surat-based furniture manufacturer who founded Modufurn Benchcraft LLP in 2023, received support integrating their business onto the Government e-Marketplace (GeM). The digital platform through which most public procurement in India now happens, enabling them to secure supply orders from the Ministry of Education and state government departments.
Under the Special Marketing Assistance Scheme component, SC/ST entrepreneurs are also facilitated to participate in domestic and international exhibitions, building the market visibility and buyer relationships that procurement success ultimately depends on. To date, more than 1.79 lakh existing and aspiring SC/ST entrepreneurs have availed some form of benefit through the scheme.
CLOSING THE GAP TO THE MANDATE
Ten years of growth from 0.07% to 1.59% of public procurement demonstrates that the scheme’s mechanisms work. The accountability question is why the pace must slow as the target gets closer, when historically, government schemes show the opposite pattern fast early wins followed by stagnation, not acceleration.
The Ministry of MSME must publish a clear, time-bound roadmap detailing how the remaining gap to the 4 per cent statutory target will be closed, with intermediate annual milestones, not a vague aspiration tied to Viksit Bharat @2047. Inclusive entrepreneurship, as a policy promise, should be measured the same way every other procurement target is measured: in hard percentage points, on a public timeline, with real consequences for ministries and CPSEs that fail to meet it.
Clear Cut Livelihood, Research Desk
New Delhi, UPDATED: June 22, 2026 01:00 IST
Written By: Tanmay Urs
