Market Development Support Assistance under Motivation of Entrepreneurs to Start Industries and Fiscal Assistance to Industries

What is Market Development Support Assistance?

Market Development Support Assistance is a component of "Motivation of Entrepreneurs to Start Industries and Fiscal Assistance to Industries, Various Incentives", the incentive package of the Industries and Commerce Department, Union Territory of Puducherry. The package was framed under the New Industrial Policy 2016 and this set of incentives came into force with effect from 1 April 2017, operating across Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Under this component the department provides assistance worth 50 per cent of total rent, literature and display material, subject to a maximum of Rs 5,00,000, to an industrial unit for participation in an international trade fair as part of an industry association.

The logic is that a small manufacturer in Puducherry rarely has the marketing budget to take a stall at an international fair on its own, and rarely has the standing to be taken seriously if it does. Going as part of an industry association solves both problems, and the Union Territory meets half the cost of the stall and the material the unit takes to it.

What exactly is reimbursed?

Two features of this component are worth understanding before you spend anything.

It is a reimbursement. The assistance is provided on the basis of actual expenditure incurred, so the unit pays the organiser and the printer first and recovers half of it afterwards against invoices.

Prior approval is a condition of eligibility, not a formality. The incentives order requires that the unit obtain prior approval from the Director of Industries about participating in the exhibition. A unit that books a stall, attends the fair and only then approaches the department has failed a stated eligibility condition.

Who is eligible for Market Development Support Assistance?

Your unit can claim if:

• Your unit is a micro, small, medium or large industry in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• The investment was made on or after 1 April 2017.
• The unit obtained prior approval from the Director of Industries for participating in the exhibition.
• The participation is in an international trade fair, as part of an industry association.
• Your unit gives at least 60 per cent of its total employment to people of the Union Territory of Puducherry, and maintains that share for the period stated in the affidavit.
• You undertake not to transfer or dispose of the fixed assets, including plant and machinery, until five years from the date of application or of disbursement, whichever is later.

Additional investments made after the first claim are also eligible up to the ceiling limit.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You did not take prior approval from the Director of Industries before the event.
• You participated on your own rather than as part of an industry association.
• The fair was not an international trade fair. A purely local exhibition does not attract this component, though the District Industries Centre runs a separate marketing and publicity programme that organises and funds participation in domestic exhibitions and trade fairs for artisans and MSME units.
• You have already availed subsidy for the same expenditure from the central government, the state government or any other agency.
• Your unit's local employment is below 60 per cent.
• You are an individual rather than a registered industrial unit. There is no personal or household benefit under this component.

Where two or more industrial undertakings are set up by the same proprietor, by common partners or by a common board of directors or shareholders, they are treated as separate entities for subsidy purposes, provided their locations are different and their licences, clearances and registrations are held separately.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Market Development Support Assistance

1. Identify the fair and the association well ahead of the event, and get the association's confirmation that your unit will be part of its delegation or pavilion.
2. Apply to the Director of Industries for prior approval of your participation, before booking the stall. Keep the approval letter. It is the first document the scrutinising officer will look for.
3. Participate in the fair and collect every invoice and receipt as you go: the stall rent, the catalogue and brochure printing bills, and the display fabrication bills, each with proof of payment from the unit's account.
4. Download the common application form for subsidies from industry.py.gov.in/common-application-subsidies, fill in every mandatory field, and attach self-attested copies of the prior approval, the bills, the association membership proof, unit registration and the local-employment affidavit.
5. Submit the signed claim to the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009, or to the regional office at Kottucherry in Karaikal, or the Civil Station offices at Yanam and Mahe.
6. Obtain a dated acknowledgement with a reference number and use it for all follow-up.

What happens after you apply?

Applications are scrutinised by the Directorate of Industries on merit to determine the quantum admissible, and are then placed before the State Level Committee, which decides whether the unit qualifies and recommends the amount. Where the unit is financed by a bank, PIPDIC or another government corporation the subsidy is routed through that institution and adjusted against the loan or applied to fixed assets or working capital; a self-financed unit is paid directly. Payment may be in one instalment or several, depending on the availability of funds.

By when must the claim be filed?

• New units, within one year of obtaining Entrepreneurs Memorandum Part-II, permanent registration, or the commencement of production certificate.
• Existing units; within one year of completing expansion, diversification or modernisation.

There is no separate annual advertisement for this component; the trigger is your own unit's milestones and the fair you attend.

Common reasons claims are rejected

• No prior approval from the Director of Industries before the event.
• Solo participation instead of participation through an industry association.
• Domestic fair claimed under a component meant for international trade fairs.
• Estimates instead of paid invoices — the assistance is on actual expenditure incurred.
• Travel, accommodation and personal expenses included in the claim; the covered heads are rent, literature and display material.
• Duplicate claim where a central marketing assistance scheme already met the same cost.
• Local employment below 60 per cent, or affidavit not filed.

Related support for marketing your products

Alongside this component, the District Industries Centre of Puducherry organises and funds participation in exhibitions, trade fairs, expos, seminars and investors meets in Indian cities and abroad for MSME, handicraft and cottage industry products, paying participating artisans and unit industrialists second class rail fare and a daily allowance of Rs 400 per day per person. The Centre also runs a rent subsidy for sales emporia and grant-in-aid to industrial associations, CII and industrial NGOs for promotion of SME clusters at 75 per cent of actual cost up to Rs 3,00,000 per unit in the cluster.

Help and grievance redressal

• Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009 to +91-413-2248476, 2248168, 2248320
• District Industries Centre, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009 to +91-413-2248987, 2248391, 2249392
• Grievance redressal: industry.py.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism

How to check your application status

This is an offline, file-based subsidy claim, so there is no online tracking dashboard where you can log in and see a status bar. Status has to be chased through the same office that received the claim.

• Keep your acknowledgement number ready. When you submitted the common subsidy application form at the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry, or at the Kottucherry, Yanam or Mahe office, you should have received a dated acknowledgement with a reference number. Quote this number in every follow-up, whether by phone, letter or in person.
• Call the Directorate helpline. Ring +91-413-2248476 and ask the subsidy section specifically whether your file has completed scrutiny by the Directorate and, if so, whether it has been listed for the State Level Committee meeting yet. Applications move through two distinct stages: departmental scrutiny of the claim on merit, and a decision by the State Level Committee, so ask which stage your file is in rather than just "is it approved."
• Visit in person if the phone line does not resolve it. Because the claim is paper-based, the file itself is what carries the status. If a call does not get a clear answer, a visit to the Directorate with your acknowledgement copy usually gets faster movement than repeated calls.
• If you are routed through a bank or PIPDIC, remember the subsidy is disbursed through that financing institution rather than paid to you directly. In that case also check with your bank or PIPDIC branch on whether they have received the sanctioned amount from the Directorate for adjustment against your loan or fixed assets, since the money can sit at the institution for a few days before it is applied.
• Watch for a written communication asking for clarification or additional documents. The Directorate does not always call before rejecting a claim for a missing paper; sometimes a deficiency memo is sent to the address on the application form. Check your postal address and any e-mail given on the form periodically, and respond promptly if such a memo arrives, since claims are only kept on file for a limited period awaiting a response.
• There is no SMS or email auto-update for this scheme. Because it runs on the common application form used across Puducherry's industrial subsidy schemes rather than a dedicated online portal, treat the acknowledgement number and periodic phone or in-person follow-up as the only reliable way to track progress until you receive a sanction order or a rejection communication in writing.