Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Tamil Nadu to lay the foundation stone of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai today. There he met Arulmozhi Saravanan, a woman entrepreneur who had taken a loan under the Mudra Yojana and now owns a business of her own with a turnover of over Rs 1 crore. She mainly supplies various products to government departments through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM). Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) launched by the Modi government on April 12, 2018, loans up to Rs 10 lakhs is provided to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. Government e-Marketplace is the online procurement portal of government, which is used by various government departments, organisations, PSUs to procure goods and services.
Tamil Nadu: Arulmozhi Saravanan, a Mudra entrepreneur whose thermos flasks were bought by Prime Minister’s Office via Government e-Marketplace (GeM), met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Madurai today pic.twitter.com/La8tBttz23
— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2019
In an interview with the GeM portal, Arulmozhi Saravanan says that earlier she used to sell products through Amazon and Flipkart but business was not good. One day, she saw an advertisement for GeM and registered there. After four months, she got an order worth ₹241 only for stamps. Although a small order, she fulfilled it immediately as it was her first order on the government-run portal. After that, she started getting more orders.
One day while browsing the GeM site she found out that the PMO was looking to purchase thermoflasks. She offered to supply the thermoflasks, and that was confirmed by the PMO. She immediately sent the order by Speed post, and the PMO called her to confirm that they have received the shipment. Thereafter she started getting orders from more and more government offices and her business grew. She wrote her story in a letter to PM Modi who shared it in Mann Ki Baat in 2017. She addresses PM Modi in her letter as her father.
She later wrote to the Prime Minister of the subsequent updates in her business. Saravanan who once used firewoods for cooking is now planning to give up her cooking gas subsidy which will be followed by a home loan.
Saravanan says that GeM is a great government platform to save public money. She also gives credit to the GST telling how doing business has become easier after its implementation. She says that the key to her success is supplying the correct and original product as soon as possible. Her firm sends the deliveries the day they receive an order, and other sellers too should do the same, she says.
Saravanan’s success story is another one in the line of several business stories that became a success due to the Mudra Yojana. Mudra Yojana is one of the most successful schemes of the government that have helped the ordinary people in realising their once impossible dreams.
