Since past few years, various schemes have been rolled over by the Ministry of new and renewable energy as a part of their mission to market the use of solar energy as a major source of energy in most of the areas across the country, many shops were established by various state-based nodal agencies, processing units, and common individuals too. Since the beginning of the 10th plan period, commercial private firms have also been allowed to open these shops. The shops were used to be known by the name Aditya urja shops but later got renamed as “Akshay Urja Shops” along with a mission to cover up a large network of selling and service of solar systems and solar energy projects. The large network of these Akshay Urja shops was then been enlarged by the private commercial firms and individuals.
The Initiatives has been taken by the ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the institution of Akshay Urja Shops across all districts of the country. As of now, around 341 Akshay Urja Shops have been opened in the country with the support of the ministry. MNRE helps and assists the firms and entities with monetary assistance as well as operational aid over a time period of 2 years. The capping of the supported amount is around 2.40 lakhs per shop.
Objective
The main objective of the programme is to encourage and sustain the organization of one shop in each district for establishment of a network of retail outlets in form of “Akshay Urja Shops” in all the districts for sale and service of solar energy and other renewable energy products. The Programme has been launched with a purpose of motivating and supporting all of the “Akshay Urja Shops” across all the areas for the sale and service of solar energy and other renewable energy stuff. The core mission of the scheme is to make available at least one shop across every district for the accessibility of renewable energy technology.
Eligible Organizations for financial assistance
Every listed State Nodal agency, Commercial unit, and NGOs are eligible to operate and open these shops across any city or district in India.
Financial Assistance
All the Individuals ad firms filing the application for the purpose of loans can get a maximum of 85% loan of the cost of the unit to be opened, limited to the number of Rs.10lacs from the government banks and the cooperative banking units on an interest rate of 7%. The Amount can be repaid over a period of five years.
Procedure for setting up of the Shops
The provisions in the scheme allow only one shop in every district. No district will be allowed to open any more shops in their vicinity as per the guidelines of the programme.
- The Area of the shops should be a minimum of 200 sq.ft. apart from storage. No rented shops will be allowed under the scheme.
- The shops shall be located in a prime zone and would be easily reachable to every citizen around.
- Every shop must use the name “Akshay urja shop”.The name of the owner can be prefixed before the shop name or after the shop name but in whatsoever terms it should be named with Akshay urja shop only.
- The Hoardings and the display board of the shop should be attractive and should be sounding eye catchy to the customers.
- Only two employees in the shop are allowed and while one of them should have the technical know-how about the repair of the solar devices and their service, the other can manage the daily routine of the shop.
- The shops can operate on a business as the usual basis and also deemed to earn profits from their sale and service.
- The shop is required to provide services not only for the solar energy devices sold from the unit but also other devices of renewable energy brought by the customers from another shop.
- The Unit has to run itself with a customer-friendly approach and without any odd times schedule. The main objective should be to provide better service with better products.
- The shops should be having a proper price list of the items getting sold in the unit.Everything should be properly mentioned, from the price of the unit sold to the after sale service charge.
- To bring more commerciality to the shop, the owner may sell various energy saving stuff and devices like a CFL, Halogen light, energy saving kerosene stoves etc. and so on
- To bring more monetary benefits to the customer and make them go easy about their money, the unit shall provide them assistance regarding the bank loans available.
Benefits
This Akshay urja shops scheme is a revolution in itself. It is not only creating awareness amongst the people around but making all the solar lights, energy lamps, solar less easily available in the shop. Moreover, While India is a country where Solar power is found in abundance, and also won’t be emitting any carbon pollutants, it is very much a success if implemented with better planning and execution.
The people living in the village area will be getting a list of benefits out of these shops and thought it would provide them with a better alternative to all those conventional sources of energy which are high on fossil fuels, this would provide them with better employment opportunities. The shops are easy to start with and the service list provided is also for the benefits of the common people as a whole. Not only about the people in rural areas but also the people in districts and small towns can avail loads of benefits out of this scheme.
Akshay Urja Shops PDF
Some Important Links
http://mnre.gov.in/akshay-urja-shops
Conclusion
With more dedicated awareness programmes running alongside these Akshay Urja Shops, India can achieve better results in renewable sector in the years to come. The country has to take the serious concern to motivate its people to take to renewable energy to get success in its core mission of bringing more goodness to the backward areas with concerns for equity and environment.