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NULM’s impact on slums and small entrepreneurs in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur

NULM’s impact on slums and small entrepreneurs in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur
NULM’s impact on slums and small entrepreneurs in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur

In Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, a quiet transformation is underway in the slums of

Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur. The National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), launched in 2013 and later renamed Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NULM, is bringing self-employment and skill training initiatives to some of the region’s most impoverished urban communities.


These three cities, each with a significant share of residents living in slum settlements (roughly one-third to 40% of their population), have become focal points for the mission’s efforts to reduce urban poverty.


Residents who once struggled with precarious informal work and a lack of stable incomes are now accessing new opportunities. The reader can immediately discern that this article examines how NULM’s programs are affecting slum dwellers and small entrepreneurs in Vidarbha’s Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur.


Self-Employment Initiatives in Urban Slums


A core component of NULM is the Self-Employment Programme, which provides financial assistance, including interest-subsidised loans, to help urban poor individuals and groups start micro-enterprises.


The mission’s guiding philosophy is that the poor are inherently entrepreneurial, with an innate drive to escape poverty if given support.

This belief is put into practice by organising the urban poor into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and federations, especially women-led groups, to foster savings, credit access, and collective livelihood activities. In cities like Amravati and Akola, community organisers under NULM have been mobilising slum residents to form SHGs ranging from tailoring collectives to food vending groups.


These groups typically receive revolving fund grants and help members access bank credit for business ventures.


Chandrapur offers a telling example of the mission’s impact on self-employment. The Chandrapur Municipal Corporation was recently recognised as one of India’s top-performing urban bodies under NULM.


During the 2023–24 SPARK awards, a national ranking of NULM implementation, Chandrapur was ranked third among medium-sized cities for its outstanding outcomes. Over the past year, the city formed around 120 new women’s SHGs in slum localities, exceeding its target and demonstrating strong community uptake.


These groups have been more than just savings units; many are launching small businesses such as catering services, garment stitching centres, and vegetable stalls in the heart of the slums.


Through NULM, members of such groups can obtain subsidised bank loans at 7% interest to expand their enterprises, with an additional interest subvention for timely repayment. According to official data, over 7.8 lakh urban beneficiaries nationwide have received loans to start or strengthen micro-businesses since 2014. In Chandrapur alone, hundreds of individual and group enterprises have been financed.


For instance, in one year, a comparable city provided self-employment loans to 175 individuals and multiple groups under NULM’s support, illustrating the scale at which credit is flowing to grassroots entrepreneurs.


Crucially, these self-employment efforts are targeted at slum populations that traditionally lacked access to formal finance. NULM encourages banks to lend to SHG members and small vendors by covering interest beyond 7%, effectively making credit affordable for the urban poor.


Field reports from Vidarbha indicate that many slum-dwelling women who previously relied on sporadic daily wage work are now running steady businesses from their homes or neighbourhood markets.


In Akola’s densely populated slum clusters, women from one SHG pooled a small loan to purchase equipment for making papad and pickles, turning a traditional skill into a home-based enterprise.

Similar stories abound: a group of young men in Amravati’s informal settlements received entrepreneurship training and a modest loan to start a mobile phone repair kiosk. A disabled street vendor in Chandrapur secured credit to set up a tea stall that now employs two helpers.


These narratives are becoming more common as NULM’s self-employment scheme matures. The mission’s data show that nationally, over 7.8 lakh SHGs have been formed under NULM, and about 5.36 lakh of them have been given revolving fund support to build their financial base.

This grassroots institution-building is clearly visible in Vidarbha’s cities, where slum communities have organised into hundreds of SHGs. The immediate effect is empowerment. Residents gain confidence managing small finances, and the longer-term effect is a burgeoning class of small entrepreneurs emerging from the slums.


Notably, the livelihood mission also extends support to urban street vendors, who are a significant segment of “small entrepreneurs” in these cities. Under NULM (complemented by the allied PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors), city authorities have surveyed and identified street vendors and issued them ID cards, which legitimise their trade and make them eligible for loans.


In Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur, thousands of street vendors, from vegetable sellers to roadside barbers, have received vending certificates and access to an initial working capital loan of ₹10,000.


Many have since graduated to higher loans (₹20,000 and ₹50,000 in subsequent tranches) after timely repayment, helping them scale up their micro-businesses. The Municipal Commissioner of one nearby city pointed out in a review meeting that disbursing these small loans promptly, even during the local election code of conduct period, was a priority to keep vendors afloat.


By enabling slum residents and informal workers to become micro-entrepreneurs with bank linkages, NULM’s self-employment initiatives are gradually changing the economic fabric of Vidarbha’s poorer urban areas.

The once marginalised urban poor are gaining a foothold in the local economy, be it a woman running a tailoring shop out of a slum tenement or a group of youth managing a food cart, with the mission’s support acting as a crucial catalyst.


Skill Training Opens New Opportunities


Alongside promoting self-employment, NULM puts strong emphasis on skill development and training for urban poor youth and women.


The Employment through Skills Training and Placement (EST&P) component of NULM is designed to provide market-oriented skills to those living in poverty, enabling them to secure wage employment or improve their own businesses.

In practice, this means municipal agencies in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur partner with accredited training providers to offer courses that match local industry demand, from retail sales and hospitality to electrician training, tailoring, computer data entry, and more. Many of these training programs specifically target slum dwellers who have little formal education or vocational skills. By upgrading their abilities, the program aims to make them employable in the formal job market or better equipped to run a trade.


The scale of the skill training effort under NULM is impressive. Nationally, since 2014, over 13 lakh urban poor have been given skill training to enhance their employability. Of those trained, about 6.78 lakh (more than half) have secured jobs either in wage employment or through self-employment ventures.


This outcome indicates that the training is linked to tangible livelihood gains. In the three Vidarbha cities, thousands of youths from slum neighbourhoods have enrolled in NULM-sponsored training courses over the past several years.


Amravati, being a regional hub, has seen training centres set up under the City Livelihood Centre model, where urban poor candidates can register for courses like nursing aide, mobile repair, fashion design, and driving. Akola and Chandrapur have conducted “Rozgar Melas” (job fairs) in slum areas to motivate youth to join skills programs and then connect them with employers.


Take the example of Chandrapur’s NULM skills initiative. The municipal corporation reported that it met its annual target for skills placement, training over 500 youth in trades such as industrial stitching, masonry, and IT support, and facilitating job offers for at least 50% of them within three months of course completion.


One beneficiary, a 22-year-old man from a Chandrapur slum, trained as an electrician under the program and soon landed a job with a local electrical contractor, a transition from informal, low-paying work to a steady paycheck. In Amravati, NULM officials collaborated with local industries to tailor courses for jobs that were actually vacant in the area, such as garment machine operators for a textile unit on the city’s outskirts.


Such demand-driven training improves the odds that graduates will secure employment. For women from slums, courses like nursing assistant, beautician training, or food processing have opened paths to either formal jobs or home-based businesses.



An official data point underscores the impact. From 2014 to late 2022, 6.78 lakh people who went through NULM skill training across India obtained placements in jobs or started their own income activity.

The cities of Vidarbha are contributors to this statistic. Local reports suggest that in the last three years alone, well over a few thousand youth from Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur have collectively gained jobs after skill training.


The skill-training programs also consciously include the marginalised sections of the slum population, women, scheduled castes and tribes, minorities, and people with disabilities, acknowledging that these groups often face additional barriers to employment. Free or highly subsidised training, plus sometimes a stipend or meal allowance during the course, ensures that even those who earn daily wages can afford to attend.


Moreover, the training providers under NULM are mandated to offer post-training support, which might include helping trainees prepare resumes, practice interviews, or even providing tool-kits for those who choose self-employment (for instance, a sewing machine for a tailoring course graduate or a toolbox for an electrician).


In Akola, a group of ten young women from a slum completed a NULM-sponsored apparel stitching course and, rather than taking up factory jobs, jointly started a small garment workshop with a seed capital loan, effectively combining skill and entrepreneurship support from the mission.


NULM’s skill training doesn’t always funnel people into outside jobs. In many cases, it improves the productivity of the micro-businesses that trainees launch.

Another important facet is the convergence with other urban schemes. The mission in Maharashtra has worked in tandem with the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) program to train slum residents for jobs in waste management and sanitation services.


This has been particularly relevant in cities like Chandrapur, where several slum youths have been trained as waste collection drivers, toilet maintenance staff, and masons for household toilet construction, gaining a livelihood while also improving their communities’ living conditions.


Such multi-pronged skill initiatives reinforce the idea that building livelihoods for the urban poor can go hand-in-hand with improving urban infrastructure and services.


On-the-Ground Impact in Vidarbha’s Communities

On-the-Ground Impact in Vidarbha’s Communities
On-the-Ground Impact in Vidarbha’s Communities

Nearly a decade into its implementation, the National Urban Livelihoods Mission is leaving discernible marks on the ground in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur.


Walk through a slum colony in these cities today, and you are likely to notice signs of economic activity and community enterprise that were far less evident before.


In Amravati’s Jaihind Nagar slum, for instance, one can find a row of shanty dwellings where women have organised evening parlour services and tailoring units, a direct outcome of SHG microloans and skills training in cosmetology and sewing.

In Akola’s Old City slum area, several formerly unemployed youth now don the uniforms of security guards and retail assistants during the day, having secured jobs at malls and shops after completing NULM courses.


Meanwhile, in Chandrapur’s Babupeth slum, an SHG collective runs a small dairy cooperative, pooling funds (with bank credit support) to buy milk from members and sell in bulk, providing a modest but steady income to slum families. These are small changes, but multiplied across dozens of slum pockets, they signal a meaningful shift: a movement away from pure subsistence living toward micro-entrepreneurship and skilled work among the urban poor.


Quantitatively, the mission’s impact in these three cities can be gauged by metrics of outreach and economic upliftment. In terms of social mobilisation, city officials report that hundreds of SHGs have been formed in Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur under NULM, engaging thousands of poor households.


Many of these groups have matured into functional savings-and-credit units that not only access bank loans but also serve as a support network for members. The financial inclusion aspect is noteworthy. Slum dwellers who were once considered unbankable now have group bank accounts, regular savings habits, and credit histories.


Maharashtra’s overall performance in implementing NULM has been strong; the state won 9 out of 33 awards in the national NULM awards in 2023-24, reflecting excellence across various components. Locally, Chandrapur’s high ranking under the SPARK assessment and the inclusion of Malegaon (another Maharashtra city) among top performers underscore how the state’s urban authorities have embraced the mission.


This has likely benefited Vidarbha’s cities through better funding and guidance. In terms of employment outcomes, conservative estimates suggest that in each of the three cities, NULM has enabled several thousand individuals to find gainful employment, whether via new jobs or self-run businesses, over the last few years.


While exact city-level figures are not always published, one can extrapolate from state achievements. The central government notes that nationwide NULM has created over 38 lakh livelihoods for the urban poor through skill training and self-employment support. A share of this progress belongs to Vidarbha’s urban poor, who have clearly seized the opportunities offered.


Interviews with beneficiaries and officials further illuminate the mission’s on-the-ground impact. “Earlier, I used to earn barely ₹3,000 a month as a domestic help. Now, after the tailoring training, I stitch school uniforms and other clothes from home and make double that income,” says a woman from an Amravati slum who took an NULM course and a small loan to buy a sewing machine.


Her testimony is echoed by many others who describe increased income and a sense of dignity from their new ventures. Local officials also observe changes.


A project officer in Akola’s NULM cell notes that slum communities are more cooperative with municipal initiatives now because they see direct benefits like jobs and loans flowing in. “There is a palpable rise in confidence among the urban poor,” he explains, pointing out that some SHGs have even begun participating in city events and exhibitions to market their products.


Chandrapur’s municipal commissioner credited the mission for not only boosting livelihoods but also strengthening the city’s grassroots institutions, because SHGs and federations give the poor a collective voice in civic matters.


Indeed, empowerment is an intangible but vital outcome here: by organising into groups and improving their economic lot, slum residents are better able to assert their needs, whether it’s for basic services or for space to run their businesses (like allocated vendor zones and market stalls).


Of course, challenges remain. Not every trainee finds a job immediately; not every micro-business started under NULM thrives in the long run. There are reports of some youth in Akola losing interest in training midway, or of SHGs struggling to repay loans due to limited local market demand. The sustainability of outcomes is an area that requires continued support, for instance, helping new entrepreneurs with marketing and linking them to bigger value chains.


Moreover, the mission’s conclusion in September 2024 (as per RBI’s notification winding up the scheme) raises questions about how these initiatives will be sustained or transitioned into new programs.

However, the foundation laid by NULM in Vidarbha’s cities is likely to endure in the form of empowered communities. The mission’s legacy can be seen in those 98 lakh poor households nationally that have been mobilised into SHGs, a number that includes many from Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur.


It is also evident in nearly 2,000 shelters for urban homeless built across India, including facilities in these Maharashtra cities, where the homeless now have a roof and a chance to rehabilitate.


From the narrow lanes of Amravati’s slums to the vendor markets of Akola and the SHG meeting halls in Chandrapur, the National Urban Livelihoods Mission has ignited aspirations among the urban poor in Vidarbha.


The initiative has been implemented in a manner that avoids grandiosity or dramatic shifts, focusing instead on steady, grassroots progress.


While not every story is a resounding success and challenges persist, the overall narrative is one of positive change that feels tangible and human.


In a region often overlooked in the state’s growth story, NULM’s work in Vidarbha stands out as an insightful example of policy translating into real-world impact.

As the scheme moves forward (or into its next phase post-2024), the experiences of Amravati, Akola, and Chandrapur show that investing in the urban poor’s skills and enterprises can yield rich dividends, not just for the individuals involved, but for the community and city at large, in the form of reduced poverty and vibrant local economies.


The echoes of sewing machines, the sight of new shops in slum alleys, and the pride in the voices of newly skilled youth all attest to a mission that has made a meaningful difference on the ground in Vidarbha.


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The NewsDirt is a trusted source for authentic, ground-level journalism, highlighting the daily struggles, public issues, history, and local stories from Vidarbha’s cities, towns, and villages. Committed to amplifying voices often ignored by mainstream media, we bring you reliable, factual, and impactful reporting from Vidarbha’s grassroots.

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