Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Scheme for Assistance to MSMEs: Assistance for Quality Certification

What is the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat quality certification assistance?

Assistance for Quality Certification is Scheme 5 inside the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Scheme for Assistance to MSMEs, notified by the Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat, through Government Resolution No. MIS-102022-1271(1)-I(Ch) dated 5 October 2022. The Office of the MSME Commissioner, Udyog Bhavan, Gandhinagar, runs it, and District Industries Centres handle field verification.

According to the resolution, the scheme exists so that a micro, small or medium manufacturer can afford the certification that lets it sell into markets where a certificate is the price of entry. Certification agency fees, the testing instruments a certifying body insists on, and calibration of that equipment are all real cash costs for a small factory, and the state pays roughly half of them.

The umbrella scheme is operative from 5 October 2022 to 4 October 2027. The head has two distinct parts, and an enterprise can use both.

How much assistance does the scheme give?

Quality certification (clause 8.2 of the Government Resolution)

• 50% of the fee payable for national or international certification, BIS, ISI, WHO, GMP, Hallmark and other national or international certifications, and
• 50% of the cost of testing equipment and machinery required for that certification,
• totalling a maximum of Rs 10 lakh during the operative period of the scheme.

Eligible cost specifically includes fees charged by the certification agency: excluding travel, hotel and surveillance charges, the cost of testing equipment or machinery required for the certification, and calibration charges for that equipment.

ERP assistance (clause 8.1)

• 65% of the capital cost of installing an Enterprise Resource Planning system,
• subject to a maximum of Rs 1,00,000 during the operative period.

The ERP capital cost includes installation charges, software and annual service cost, but not the hardware. Where the ERP is deployed as Software-as-a-Service, the annual subscription charges are considered. The system must handle production, inventory control, sales, purchase, accounting and human resource management.

Enterprises that opted into the 2022 scheme under clause 7.2 of the resolution may also claim expenditure incurred during the operative period of the previous Industrial Policy 2020 scheme up to 5 October 2022.

What the previous scheme paid

The Industrial Policy 2020 version of this assistance (GR No. SSI-102020-332278-CH dated 1 September 2020, operative 7 August 2020 to 6 August 2025) paid 50% of certification fees, raised to 60% for an SC or ST enterprise under Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyog Uday Yojana (GR No. SSI-102020-332376-CH), plus 50% of the cost of quality testing equipment, capped at Rs 10 lakh, for a maximum of three quality certificates. Enterprises whose certificates were issued on or after 7 August 2020 were covered. That framing matters because many pending claims are still being settled under the earlier resolution.

Who is eligible for quality certification assistance?

Eligible:

• A micro, small or medium manufacturing enterprise acknowledged under the MSMED Act, 2006, holding a valid Udyam registration (or Udyog Aadhaar under the earlier scheme).
• The enterprise must be located and manufacturing in Gujarat.
• The enterprise must have obtained a national or international certificate from a recognised, referred, approved or empanelled certification body.
• All expenditure claimed must have been incurred before the certificate was issued.

Who cannot apply:

• Service enterprises and trading businesses. Service activity and trading activity are expressly ineligible under this head.
• Enterprises seeking a certificate that is required as part of a statutory provision; mandatory compliance certification is not funded.
• Enterprises claiming for the renewal of an existing certificate.
• Enterprises that bought the testing equipment after the certificate was issued; that equipment is not eligible.
• An enterprise trying to recover more than its actual expenditure by stacking a Government of India scheme on top of this one.

What documents are required?

How to apply for quality certification assistance in Gujarat

1. Get the certificate first. Assistance is claimed after the national or international certificate is issued, and the spending must have happened before that issue date. Buy any testing equipment the certifying body requires before the certificate is granted.
2. Download the application form and checklist for Assistance for Quality Certificate from the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Schemes for MSMEs 2022 page at msmec.gujarat.gov.in/posts?id=76. Use the separate ERP form if you are also claiming for an ERP system.
3. Get a CA-certified expenditure statement in the prescribed format, showing certification agency fees, testing equipment and machinery cost and calibration charges separately, and excluding travel, hotel and surveillance charges.
4. File the application online on the Investor Facilitation Portal at ifp.gujarat.gov.in and submit the signed hard copy with annexures to the MSME Commissionerate head office or the District Industries Centre, as directed for your case, within one year of the date of issue of the certificate.
5. Support the verification. Officers from the DIC or head office check whether the certification was genuinely needed for your manufacturing sector, and confirm the certificate directly with the issuing body by letter, email or online check before the General Manager or authorised officer approves it.
6. Track the sanction and disbursement through the DIC that holds your file. Assistance is released to the enterprise's bank account after sanction.

How do I check the status of my application?

Applications filed on the Investor Facilitation Portal can be tracked with the login used to submit them; the portal shows the stage the file has reached. For the physical file, the District Industries Centre of your district is the first point of contact, and the MSME Commissionerate head office at Udyog Bhavan, Gandhinagar, holds the head-office cases. Keep the online application number and the certificate number handy — the department cross-checks the certificate with the issuing agency and that step is where most files spend time.

Why do quality certification claims get rejected?

• Filing after one year from the certificate date. This is the single most common fatal defect and cannot be cured.
• Renewal claims. Renewal expenditure is excluded by the resolution.
• Statutory certifications. If the law already requires the certificate for your product, assistance is not available.
• Testing equipment purchased after the certificate date. The equipment must have been bought for the certification, before it was granted.
• Travel, hotel and surveillance charges included in the claim. These are excluded from eligible cost and inflate the CA statement.
• Service or trading activity shown as the applicant's activity in Udyam registration.
• Double-dipping beyond actual cost. Where a Government of India scheme has already paid part of the certification cost, the Gujarat assistance is trimmed so the total never exceeds what the enterprise actually spent.
• Certificate not verifiable. If the issuing body does not confirm the certificate on the department's enquiry, the claim fails.

Key dates to remember

• 5 October 2022, the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat MSME resolution takes effect.
• 4 October 2027, the operative period of the scheme ends.
• 7 August 2020 to 6 August 2025; operative period of the previous Industrial Policy 2020 scheme, under which claims are still settled for certificates issued in that window.
• One year from the certificate date. The deadline for every application.

Who do I contact about this scheme?

The nodal officer published by the MSME Commissionerate for MSME incentive schemes is the Deputy Commissioner of Industries (MSME Incentive), 4th Floor, Block No. 1, Udyog Bhavan, Sector 11, Gandhinagar 382 010, reachable on 079-23258381, 079-23258386 and 079-23258387, and by email at msmeinc@gujarat.gov.in or dci-msme-inc@gujarat.gov.in. The MSME Commissionerate also runs a grievance form on msmec.gujarat.gov.in, and delayed payment disputes go to the separate MSME Samadhaan portal rather than to this scheme.

Guidelines published by the department carry a standing note: they are issued to help enterprises understand and implement the Government Resolution, and where the two differ, the Government Resolution and the government's decision prevail.