MEPMA – Transforming Urban Livelihoods
A Convergence of Data, Skill and Opportunity

Andhra Pradesh’s urban poverty mission under MAPMA/MEPMA reads like one seamless livelihood engine: a woman enters an SHG meeting for credit and, through a series of linked interventions, leaves with a registered enterprise, a market to sell into, digital tools to reach customers, a peer network for support and —if life falters—a dignified safety net that reconnects her to work. The storyline begins with finance, but its power lies in how nine distinct programmes lock into each other to convert intent into income and dignity.

The Bank Linkage Scheme is the starter motor. By simplifying documentation, aligning banks through SLBCs and using micro-credit planning to nudge loans toward income generation, SHGs access large, collateral-free credit with outstanding repayment (~99.5%) and an estimated state share of nearly a third of India’s total—trust institutionalised at scale. With rates lowered and up to ₹20 lakh possible per SHG, the credit is not an end; it is designed to be the first mile of enterprise.

That first mile meets the SHG-led Enterprises & Urban Job Creation drive, which converges bank linkage, SEP and MSME benefits around “One Family, One Entrepreneur.” In a short span, tens of thousands of livelihood units are promoted, “walk-to-work” placements happen near home and over a lakh SHG entrepreneurs obtain MSME registration—formal identity that unlocks procurement, schemes and formal credit lines for scale. The practical linkage is deliberate: the same SHG that borrowed now has a legal doorway to markets and subsidies, turning liquidity into lasting livelihoods.

Credit and registration need capability. Empowering Urban SHGs via Skill Development closes skill gaps and converts experience into certified competence through Entrepreneurship Development Programmes and NSDC’s RPL-3 (Recognition of Prior Learning). This links directly to both enterprise productivity and employability: those who start micro-units use the content to standardise quality and costing; those who seek employment carry nationally recognised certificates. It is the hinge that lets finance become competitiveness.

Capability then meets discoverability. Empowering Urban SHGs Through Gig Economy Integration onboards trained electricians, plumbers, carpenters, beauticians and appliance technicians to a platform partner (Home Triangle) after ~60 hours of sharpening and verification, with IDs, uniforms and subscription support. The practical bridge is clear: skill certificates reduce platform distrust; the platform, in turn, becomes a live demand engine for SHG households, often within their own neighbourhoods—an online version of “walk-to-work.”

For those producing goods, markets are widened by Empowering SHG Women through E-Commerce. A statewide drive—timed to International Women’s Day—mobilises listing, packaging, fulfillment and campaign sales targeting 1 lakh orders and ₹1 crore in a single day, built on ONDC and partner marketplaces. What begins as a celebration doubles as a mass rehearsal: groups learn cataloguing, logistics and digital customer care and the state learns which categories and districts respond best, creating a playbook that enterprises and even gig workers (e.g., services bundled with product sales) can reuse. The link to Bank Linkage and MSME registration is immediate: better online traction justifies higher working capital and easier formalisation.

Ambition is sustained by Best Entrepreneurs (Prerana Sakhis)—four standout women per district receive NI-MSME residential EDP, exposure visits and seed support of up to ₹50,000. These role models are not a side-show; they are the social technology that accelerates replication. A Prerana Sakhi often sits at the intersection of the previous interventions: bank-linked, registered, skilled, platform-connected and e- commerce-literate. Her story becomes the most credible outreach for the next SHG line.

Livelihoods also live on pavements. The Street Vendors Management Programme (PM-SVANidhi) formalises and protects those enterprises. Andhra Pradesh identifies, registers and issues CoVs/ID cards at scale, sets up TVCs in every ULB, creates vending markets and trains vendors in digital payments with cashback. Working capital moves in steps—₹10k → ₹20k → ₹50k—rewarding repayment and digital adoption, with the state emerging as India’s top performer by share and recovery. The interlinkages are powerful: vendors qualify for Bank Linkage (individual/SHG), adopt QR-based payments learned via e- commerce drives, diversify into SHG product retail and use MSME and marketing support.

Not everyone fits the SHG mold. The Vulnerable Occupational Groups Formation brings gig workers, domestic workers, transport and sanitation staff, care and construction workers into Common Interest Groups (CIGs) that open bank accounts, begin savings and link to welfare. Andhra Pradesh’s outsized share of India’s CIGs shows an intent to stitch the “missing middle” into the same fabric of finance, skilling and protection. Here, the feed-throughs are clear: CIG members are screened for skill/RPL, nudged to the gig platform and—where relevant—helped to formalise as vendors or micro-service providers, closing the loop back to finance and markets.

Dignity must be nightly. NIVASAM (Shelter for Urban Homeless) constructs that dignity with a modern backbone: statewide enumeration, 90+ shelters, CCTV and a real-time dashboard for occupancy, grievance redressal, health linkages and timely payments to operating NGOs. The shelter is more than a bed; it is a re-entry station. Residents are screened for skill programmes, routed to VOG/CIGs or SHGs where possible, linked to PM-SVANidhi if they vend and supported in ID/documentation—converting vulnerability into inclusion.

This is not nine silos—it is one ecosystem in which every intervention is a doorway to the next and where evidence dashboards, recovery data and market telemetry allow course-correction in real time.