Rent Subsidy for Sales Emporia Established by Handicrafts / Micro and Small Industries Emporium under Marketing and Publicity

What is the Rent Subsidy for Sales Emporia?

Rent Subsidy for Sales Emporia Established by Handicrafts / Micro and Small Industries Emporium is a scheme under Marketing and Publicity, launched by the Department of Industries and Commerce, Union Territory of Puducherry, and administered through the District Industries Centre.

Under the scheme, financial support is provided via industrial associations, handicrafts societies and recognised institutions for the promotion of handicrafts, coir, jute and micro and small industrial products, that is, for acquiring suitable buildings or premises and providing infrastructure facilities for setting up sales emporia locally and in important cities in India.

The problem the scheme addresses is retail presence. A Puducherry handicrafts society or a micro industries association can produce well and even reach a fair or exhibition, but a permanent shopfront in a city market is a different order of commitment, the rent runs whether or not the month's sales come through. By carrying 90 per cent of that rent for three years, the Union Territory converts a recurring risk into a manageable one, long enough for an emporium to build a customer base.

What assistance is given?

The scheme has two distinct components:

1. Rent subsidy. Rent subsidy to the sales emporium or showroom at the rate of 90 per cent, subject to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per month, for three years.

2. Infrastructure and interior support. Financial assistance for providing infrastructure facilities to such buildings or premises, 75 per cent of the expenses of infrastructure facilities and interior decoration works in the sales emporia building or premises, subject to a maximum of Rs 1,50,000 or the actual cost, whichever is less, for a minimum period of three years.

Over three years the rent component alone can be worth up to Rs 3,60,000, and with the infrastructure component the total support for one emporium can reach about Rs 5,10,000.

Who is eligible for the rent subsidy?

You can apply if:

• You are an industrial association, a handicrafts society or a recognised institution. The scheme states that financial support will be provided via these bodies, and the applicant should own a sales emporium or showroom in Puducherry.
• The emporium promotes handicrafts, coir, jute, and micro and small industrial products.
• You are acquiring or running suitable premises as a sales emporium, either locally or in an important city in India.
• You can produce a rent or lease agreement and rent receipts for the premises claimed.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You are an individual trader or shopkeeper applying in your own name. The route is through an industrial association, handicrafts society or recognised institution, not through a private retailer.
• Your outlet sells goods outside the scheme's scope, the promotion is of handicrafts, coir, jute and micro and small industrial products.
• You have no rent liability, for example where the premises are owned outright, since the subsidy is calculated on rent actually paid.
• You are seeking working capital or stock finance. The scheme funds premises costs, not inventory.
• You are an artisan seeking a personal grant. There is no individual cash benefit here; an artisan should look instead at the District Industries Centre's training schemes and its exhibitions and trade fairs programme, which pays participating artisans second-class rail fare and a daily allowance of Rs 400 a day.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Rent Subsidy for Sales Emporia

1. Take a print of the prescribed application form from the District Industries Centre's application forms area at dic.py.gov.in/application-forms-download-area, or collect a hard copy from the Centre.
2. Fill in all the mandatory fields, paste the passport-size photograph where required and sign across it, and attach self-attested copies of the organisation's registration certificate, the rent or lease agreement, rent receipts, bank details and; if you are claiming the infrastructure component — the estimates and bills for interior and infrastructure work.
3. Visit the District Industries Centre at Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009 on a working day during office hours, and submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the concerned authority. Applicants from Karaikal can approach the Functional Manager at the Rural Industrial Estate, Kottucherry, Karaikal 609609.
4. Collect your unique number. On receipt of the application the Centre makes the necessary entries in the application receipt register and assigns a unique number, which identifies you in all further references and serves as the acknowledgement of receipt.
5. Keep filing rent receipts for the period of the subsidy, since the 90 per cent is paid against rent actually paid month by month over the three years.

How do I check my application status?

1. Quote the unique number given to you at the time of submission.
2. Contact the District Industries Centre on +91-413-2248987, 2248391 or 2249392, or the Karaikal office on +91-4368-266467.
3. Watch dic.py.gov.in for notices and sanction announcements.

Common reasons applications are rejected

• Applicant is an individual retailer rather than an industrial association, handicrafts society or recognised institution.
• No formal rent agreement, so the rent on which 90 per cent is computed cannot be established.
• Rent receipts missing for the months claimed.
• Premises not functioning as a sales emporium for the covered product categories at the time of inspection.
• Infrastructure bills without estimates, or claims above the Rs 1,50,000 ceiling for that component.

Related schemes for marketing Puducherry products

The District Industries Centre runs two companion schemes under the same Marketing and Publicity head. The first organises and funds participation in exhibitions, trade fairs, expos, seminars and investors meets in Indian cities and abroad, paying participating artisans and unit industrialists second-class railway fare and a daily allowance of Rs 400 per day per person. The second is grant-in-aid to industrial associations, CII and industrial NGOs for promotion of SME clusters at 75 per cent of actual cost, subject to a maximum of Rs 3,00,000 per unit in the cluster. On the Industries and Commerce Department side, Market Development Support Assistance reimburses 50 per cent of stall rent, literature and display material up to Rs 5,00,000 for participation in an international trade fair as part of an industry association.

Help and contact

• District Industries Centre, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009 to +91-413-2248987, 2248391, 2249392
• Karaikal, Functional Manager, Rural Industrial Estate, Kottucherry; +91-4368-266467
• Citizen's Charter: dic.py.gov.in/sites/default/files/citizencharter.pdf
• Grievance redressal: industry.py.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism