SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) has entered into an agreement with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to provide project evaluation consultancy for a scheme that will drive regeneration of traditional industries across 400 village industry clusters in India.

The agreement was signed by Arun Kumar Jha, CEO, KVIC, and Sesha Iyer, professor and advisor to the dean, SPJIMR.

SPJIMR will provide project consultancy for the scheme, which is titled the ‘Revamped Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries’, or SFURTI. The scheme has been formulated by the union ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

“We are leveraging the skills of our faculty and making a larger contribution to society, all of which is consistent with SPJIMR’s mission of influencing practice and promoting value-based growth,” Ranjan Banerjee, dean, SPJIMR said.

“We have signed a MOU with SPJIMR for convergence of our respective areas of expertise to help in the development of artisans who do not get their due share in any economic transaction,” Jha said.

KVIC will intervene in more than 400 clusters all over the country and cover more than 40,000 artisans.

The scheme aims to organise traditional village industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive, provide sustained employment for traditional industry artisans and rural micro-entrepreneurs, help enhance quality production and marketability of products of such clusters by supporting innovative products, design intervention, improved packaging and also improvement of sales and marketing infrastructure, among other objectives.