Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyog Uday Yojana: Assistance in Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

What is the ICT component of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyog Uday Yojana?

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyog Uday Yojana is the Gujarat Government's MSME support package reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs. The Industries and Mines Department notified it through Government Resolution No. SSI/102020/332376/Ch dated 1 September 2020, under the Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020, replacing the earlier SC/ST package of 24 October 2017. The scheme is often written in transliterated form as "Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udhyog Uday Yojna".

Assistance in Implementation of Information and Communication Technology is Scheme 5 in that resolution. The clause is short and precise: the equipment required for use of ICT as a media of communication, networking with hardware for accessing cloud computing, is eligible for 75% of the capital expenditure related to ICT facilities, maximum up to Rs 5,00,000.

The purpose is modest but real. A twenty-worker fabrication unit that moves its job cards, inventory and drawings to a cloud service still needs a server rack, a managed switch, a router with a stable link and a backup device before any of it works. Those are capital costs a micro unit defers indefinitely. The State picks up three-quarters of them, once, up to Rs 5 lakh.

A near-identical component exists for all MSMEs under the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Scheme, Resolution No. MIS-102022-1271(1)-I(Ch) dated 5 October 2022, where the published draft guideline sets 65% of ICT capital expenditure with the same Rs 5,00,000 ceiling and spells out the operating conditions in detail. Officers apply those conditions in practice, so applicants under either resolution should read them.

Who is eligible for ICT assistance in Gujarat?

You can claim it if:

• You are a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe entrepreneur, or your company, LLP or partnership has 51% or more SC/ST shareholding, as required by the general conditions of the resolution.
• Your enterprise satisfies the micro, small or medium definition under the MSMED Act 2006 and holds a Udyam registration or Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum acknowledgement, or DPIIT registration where applicable.
• Your enterprise is engaged in manufacturing in Gujarat.
• You have installed or subscribed to cloud computing: public, private or hybrid, and the hardware claimed is what lets you reach it.
• The hardware was bought from an OEM or an authorised distributor or dealer with GST registration.
• Expenditure was incurred within one year before the date the cloud computing system was installed.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• Your business is trading or a service activity. Both are excluded.
• Your claim is essentially for software. The capital cost expressly excludes the software part of the ICT system.
• You bought the equipment from an unregistered or unauthorised supplier.
• You are filing more than one year after the installation date, which is fixed by the date of the last bill in your CA-certified statement.
• You installed the ICT system and commenced commercial production before 5 October 2022 in a file being processed under the Aatmanirbhar guideline, that combination is directed to the previous scheme instead.
• You have already been reimbursed for the same hardware under another State Government scheme. Central assistance may be combined, but combined support can never exceed actual expenditure.

What documents are required?

How to apply for ICT assistance

1. Subscribe to or install the cloud service and the supporting hardware first. Assistance is a reimbursement, and the cloud installation is the event the scheme is built around.
2. Collect GST invoices from the OEM or authorised dealer for every switch, router, backup device, server and computer being claimed, and have a chartered accountant certify the expenditure statement.
3. Register or sign in on the Investor Facilitation Portal at ifp.gujarat.gov.in using the enterprise PAN and Udyam number.
4. File the Common Incentive Form, select the SC/ST entrepreneur scheme and the ICT component, and upload the caste certificate, Udyam acknowledgement, cloud proof, invoices and CA certificate.
5. Submit within one year of the installation date and save the application number displayed.
6. Deliver the hard copy to your District Industries Centre. The guideline for the equivalent MSME component routes ICT claims to the concerned DIC, and allows offline hard-copy filing there until the online module goes live.
7. Attend the physical verification if the DIC inspects the installed hardware at your premises.

How is the ICT claim assessed and paid?

The District Industries Centre checks three things above all: that the supplier was an OEM or authorised dealer with GST registration, that the invoices carry dates within one year before the installation date, and that no software line item has crept into the capital cost. The claim is then valued at 75% of the eligible hardware cost, capped at Rs 5,00,000, and released as reimbursement to the enterprise bank account. Under the resolution's sanction table, proposals under Scheme 5 are handled by the MSME Commissionerate, with the DIC acting as the receiving and verifying office.

The component is supplementary to any Government of India scheme for the same purpose, but combined State and Central assistance cannot exceed the actual expenditure the enterprise incurred.

How do you check your ICT application status?

1. Sign in to ifp.gujarat.gov.in with the credentials used to file.
2. Open the incentives dashboard and search by application number.
3. Read the stage — submitted, under scrutiny, query raised, sanctioned or disbursed.
4. For a file pending at DIC level, contact the General Manager of your District Industries Centre, and escalate to the Industries Commissionerate on +91 79 23252619 if it stalls.

Why ICT claims get rejected

• Software billed as hardware. Licences, ERP modules and subscriptions are struck out of the capital cost.
• No cloud computing. Without a public, private or hybrid cloud installation or subscription, the hardware has no qualifying purpose.
• Invoices from a non-authorised supplier or from a vendor without GST registration.
• Expenditure older than one year before the installation date.
• Late application, filed more than one year after the last bill date.
• Trading or service activity discovered at verification.
• Duplicate claim for hardware already reimbursed under another State scheme.

Where to get help

• District Industries Centre in your district. The first stop for ICT claims, Udyam registration and portal filing help.
• Industries Commissionerate / MSME Commissionerate, Udyog Bhavan, Sector 11, Gandhinagar 382017 to +91 79 23252619, +91 79 23252689, +91 79 23252682.
• Email: icim@gujarat.gov.in, icioim@gujarat.gov.in.
• Grievance module on ifp.gujarat.gov.in for written complaints about delay.

There is no fee for filing on the Investor Facilitation Portal, and no intermediary can guarantee a sanction.