The District Industries Centre was set up with an aim of effective promotion and development of small village and cottage industries in all the four districts of the State. The Centre is a wing of the Department of Commerce & Industries and its single roof all around support and services are rendered for rural transformation and generation of industrial growth and self-employment ventures. The District Industries Centers along with KVIC and KVIB have also implemented the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) in the State to generate sustainable employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises in urban as well as rural areas. The centre also organizes and conducts Entrepreneurship Development Programmes or EDPs for grooming new and prospective entrepreneur to establish small industries to generate employment opportunities.
There are two District Industries Centers to cater to the four districts of the State. They are as under:-
(I) District Industries Centre- East & North
This centre in Gangtok was established in September, 1986 and since then has been rendering services, emphasizing on creation of sustainable employment avenues for people of the east and north districts of the State.
The centre conducts training programmes for the rural artisans under the “Training to Rural Artisans Scheme” with the objective of providing training to village artisans’ various trades and giving opportunities to the rural artisans to improve their economic status by setting up small enterprises and use of improved tools. The center also provides financial and marketing assistance through banks and various other agencies as a follow up measure of the scheme.
(II) District Industries Centre- South & West
The District Industries Centre- South & West is another wing of the Commerce & Industries Department, established in September, 1978. At Jorethang. It provides all around support services for industrial growth and self employment ventures to the south and west districts of the State under a single roof.
The newly launched credit linked subsidy scheme called the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), for vetting and screening of loan proposals for further sponsoring of loan cases to different banks and financial institutions for sanction and disbursement.
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes are conducted the basic objective of which is to guide the educated unemployed youth to take up self employment ventures through sustainable enterprise or presenting career option choice by instilling a sense of confidence through entrepreneurship education. The EDP has always been a good platform for gaining firsthand information to educated unemployed youth.
The Centre also participats in the Maghey Sankranti cum Traditional, Cultural and Tourism Festival held at Jorethang, South Sikkim, every year. The basic objective for participation is to encourage Rural Artisans for promotion and marketing of their products.