Credit Rating Scheme (Haryana MSME)

What is the Haryana Credit Rating Scheme?

Credit Rating Scheme is a reimbursement incentive of the Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Haryana, administered by the Directorate of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at Panchkula. The current version was notified in the Haryana Government Gazette (Extraordinary) on 8 June 2021 under Chapter 14 of the Haryana Enterprises and Employment Policy, 2020, and replaced an earlier notification of 18 April 2016 issued under the Enterprises Promotion Policy, 2015.

A credit rating is an independent assessment of a firm's financial strength and operational capability, issued by an accredited rating agency. Banks price loans partly off that rating. According to the scheme's stated objective, a good rating makes an MSME more acceptable in the market and makes access to credit "quicker and cheaper", which lowers the effective cost of borrowing. The practical obstacle is that the rating exercise itself costs money, often more than a small unit wants to spend on a document it is not obliged to have. Haryana's Credit Rating Scheme removes 75% of that cost.

The benefit is a reimbursement, not an up-front grant. The enterprise pays the rating agency first, obtains the certificate, and then claims back 75% of the eligible expenditure subject to a ceiling of Rs 2 lakh, once in every 5 years. The notification states plainly that this assistance is over and above whatever the Government of India provides for the same rating under its own Performance and Credit Rating scheme.

How much money does the Haryana Credit Rating Scheme pay?

• Reimbursement rate: 75% of the expenses incurred towards the credit rating.
• Ceiling: Rs 2 lakh per enterprise.
• Frequency: once every 5 years.
• Additionality: payable in addition to central government support for the same rating.

Eligible expenditure, as defined in the Annexure-III chartered accountant certificate, covers application fee, assessment or audit fee, annual or licence fee, training, calibration and technical consultancy charges paid to the certification agency. Hotel and travel expenses and surveillance charges are expressly excluded. A unit that spends Rs 1 lakh on eligible items therefore gets Rs 75,000 back; a unit that spends Rs 4 lakh gets the Rs 2 lakh cap rather than Rs 3 lakh.

Under the 2015 version of the scheme the rate and the ceiling were the same, 75% and Rs 2 lakh, but eligibility was confined to micro and small enterprises. HEEP 2020 widened it to medium enterprises as well and dropped the requirement that the unit be filed under EM Part-II, replacing it with Udyam Registration and the Haryana Udhyam Memorandum.

Who is eligible for the Haryana Credit Rating Scheme?

Enterprises that can claim:

• Micro, small and medium enterprises located anywhere in Haryana, with no restriction by block category.
• Units that have filed a Udyam Registration Certificate and a Haryana Udhyam Memorandum on the portal at any stage.
• Units that obtained a credit rating certificate on or after 1 January 2021 and before 31 December 2025.
• Units in commercial production, and still in regular production at the time of disbursement.
• Units holding CLU or NOC from the competent authority where that is required.

Enterprises that cannot apply or are not eligible:

• Units whose item of manufacture falls in the restrictive list notified by the Haryana government from time to time.
• Closed units, the notification says assistance shall not be released to a closed unit, so a claim filed after shutdown fails at disbursement stage.
• Units that obtained the rating before 1 January 2021, which fall outside the current notification's window.
• Large, mega and ultra-mega projects, which are outside the MSME definition used here.
• Enterprises that already drew this reimbursement within the last 5 years, since the benefit is once in five years.

Under the MSMED Act limits applied by the department, a micro enterprise has plant and machinery up to Rs 1 crore and turnover up to Rs 5 crore, a small enterprise up to Rs 10 crore and Rs 50 crore, and a medium enterprise up to Rs 50 crore and Rs 250 crore.

What documents are required?

The Annexure-I form also asks for the name and address of the certification agency, the date of commercial production as per the first sale bill, the details of any reimbursement already received from the Government of India, and the amount of assistance claimed.

How to apply for the Haryana Credit Rating Scheme

1. Complete your registrations. File the Udyam Registration Certificate on the national Udyam portal and the Haryana Udhyam Memorandum through the Directorate of MSME site. Both numbers are asked for in the claim form.
2. Get rated by an eligible agency. Have the credit rating carried out by SIDBI or by a government-accredited credit rating agency, and keep every invoice and payment receipt with the purpose written on it.
3. Get the Annexure-III certificate from your Chartered Accountant, listing each payment to the rating agency, excluding hotel, travel and surveillance charges, and certifying the plant and machinery value and last year's turnover. The certificate must carry the CA membership number and UDIN.
4. Swear the Annexure-II undertaking on non-judicial stamp paper of at least Rs 50 before a notary public or First Class Magistrate.
5. File the Annexure-I claim online on the web portal of the department, addressed to the Director or Director General, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Haryana. The scheme notification and forms sit on the Access to Finance page of msme.haryana.gov.in.
6. Attend the unit inspection. The Joint Director or Deputy Director of the District MSME Centre scrutinises the file, inspects the unit and recommends approval or rejection.
7. Clear any deficiency within 10 days of the online intimation, which the department must issue within 7 days.
8. Track the sanction. The Additional Director is the competent authority to sanction the assistance, and disbursement follows the Letter of Sanction.

Enterprises that would rather deal with a person than a portal can carry the same set of papers to their District MSME Centre, which will help complete the online submission. The claim is still decided through the departmental portal.

Why credit rating claims get rejected

• Filing more than 3 months after the rating certificate date, which forfeits the entitlement unless delay is condoned.
• Claiming excluded expenses such as hotel bills, travel or surveillance charges, which the CA certificate format does not permit.
• Rating from an agency that is not SIDBI or government-accredited.
• HUM not filed, even where the Udyam certificate is in place.
• Unit closed or not in regular production at the time of disbursement.
• Product in the restrictive list notified by the state.
• Missing UDIN or membership number on the CA certificate, or payment receipts that do not state the purpose of payment.

Appeals, condonation and penalties

An appeal against an order of the competent authority lies with the Director or Director General, MSME, Haryana within 30 days of the communication of the order, and that order is final. Delay in filing the claim or the appeal can be condoned by the Director or Director General for up to 3 months beyond the prescribed limit, and by the Administrative Secretary, Industries and Commerce for up to 6 months. Since 1 December 2022 all appeals under Haryana's incentive schemes are received online only.

If assistance is found to have been claimed on wrong facts, the enterprise must refund it with compound interest at 12% per annum, faces legal action, is debarred from further state incentives and from public procurement, and any unpaid amount is recovered as arrears of land revenue.

Key dates

• 1 January 2021, the HEEP 2020 Credit Rating Scheme commences.
• 8 June 2021, notified in the Haryana Government Gazette (Extraordinary).
• 31 December 2025 — the rating certificate must be dated before this to qualify under the current notification.
• 3 months from the certificate date, the claim filing window.
• Once every 5 years. The frequency of the benefit.

As on the fact-check date the Directorate of MSME has not published a successor notification extending the Credit Rating Scheme beyond the HEEP 2020 window, so an enterprise planning a rating in 2026 should confirm the current position with its District MSME Centre before spending on the exercise.

Help and grievance redressal

• Directorate of MSME, Haryana: 0172-2580710, Plot No. C-3, HSVP Complex, Sector 6, Panchkula 134109.
• District MSME Centre in your district, for scrutiny, inspection and status.
• Financial Services and Credit Facilitation Cell of the Directorate of MSME for guidance on rating and credit linkage.
• Haryana public grievance portal: harsamadhan.gov.in.

There is no fee for filing a credit rating reimbursement claim, and no intermediary is required.

How to check your Credit Rating Scheme application status

Because the Annexure-I claim is filed on the departmental web portal, the first and most reliable place to check progress is the same login you used to apply.

1. Log in to the portal. Go to msme.haryana.gov.in and sign in with the credentials used for the original Annexure-I submission. The claim's current stage, whether it is with the District MSME Centre for scrutiny, pending unit inspection, or forwarded for sanction, shows against the application reference number.
2. Watch for a deficiency notice. The department is required to flag any missing document or defect within 7 days of receipt. This intimation is sent through the portal, so an applicant who does not log in regularly can miss the 10-day window to respond and lose the claim on a technicality rather than on merits.
3. Call the District MSME Centre for your district if the online status has not moved for several weeks. This is the office that actually scrutinises the file and conducts the unit inspection, so it can explain a delay that the portal status alone will not.
4. Call the Directorate of MSME, Haryana at 0172-2580710 if the District MSME Centre cannot resolve the query, since the Additional Director at the Directorate is the competent authority who issues the final Letter of Sanction.
5. Escalate through harsamadhan.gov.in, Haryana's public grievance portal, if the claim has been stuck well beyond the department's own service timelines with no explanation. A grievance filed here is logged and tracked separately from the scheme portal, which gives an applicant a paper trail if the delay needs to be raised further.
6. Check for the appeal window if rejected. A rejection order can be appealed to the Director or Director General, MSME, Haryana within 30 days of the communication of that order, so note the date the rejection was communicated as soon as it arrives rather than waiting to act on it.

There is no separate SMS or helpline-based tracking number issued for this scheme; status is tracked through the same portal login used to file the claim, backed up by the District MSME Centre and the Directorate helpline for anything the portal does not explain.