Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others

What is the Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others?

The Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others is a specific lending scheme of the Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation Limited (PIPDIC) under the Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Puducherry. According to the PIPDIC schemes page, the scheme helps organisations in the small scale sector acquire the supporting equipment a working factory needs but rarely budgets for at the time of setting up.

PIPDIC. The Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation Limited: was set up by the Government of Puducherry in 1974 with an authorised share capital of Rs 45 crore. PIPDIC works under the Department of Industries and Commerce and does two things: it develops industrial estates, growth centres and IT parks in the Union Territory, and it lends to entrepreneurs through a published set of loan schemes.

The scheme covers a deliberately mixed list. What links the items is that none of them is production machinery in the narrow sense; each is infrastructure that makes the production line legal, reliable, measurable or cheaper to run.

Components and loan quantum

"Need-based" means PIPDIC sanctions against the quoted cost of the item and the repayment capacity of the unit, subject to the corporation's general debt-equity and security norms, rather than against a fixed per-unit cap.

Who is eligible for the Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others?

You can apply if:

• Your enterprise is an organisation in the small scale sector. PIPDIC does not narrow the organisational form for this scheme, so proprietary concerns, partnerships, societies and companies are all covered as long as the unit is small scale.
• The unit is located in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• The equipment being acquired falls under one of the six listed components.
• You can offer immovable property as collateral in addition to hypothecation of the equipment financed.

You cannot apply if:

• The unit is a medium or large scale industry. PIPDIC's general SSI and MSI scheme is the route for those.
• You are an individual seeking a personal benefit. This is an industrial credit product and there is no citizen application under it.
• You are a defaulter to PIPDIC, a bank or any other financial institution.
• The equipment is ordinary production machinery for expansion or replacement. That belongs under the Equipment Refinance Scheme, which carries a Rs 90,00,000 ceiling and its own track-record tests.
• The unit will operate outside Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe or Yanam.

What does each component cover in practice?

In-house quality control facilities. Testing benches, measuring instruments and calibration equipment that let a unit certify its own output instead of sending every batch to an outside laboratory. Units chasing a customer approval or an export order most often use this head.

DG sets. A diesel generating set to keep the line running through supply interruptions. PIPDIC treats this as need-based, sized to the connected load.

Pollution control equipment. Effluent treatment plants, scrubbers, filters and similar equipment. Where the pollution control board has issued a direction or made consent conditional on installing equipment, that document strengthens the file.

Computers and related accessories. Hardware for design, accounting, production planning and machine control.

Indigenisation or import substitution. Equipment that lets a unit make in Puducherry a component it currently imports.

Renewable energy and energy saving systems. The only component with a stated figure: Rs 5,00,000 per product for manufacturing and installing such systems.

What are the interest rate and financial norms?

PIPDIC publishes a single rate card that applies across its lending schemes:

Units promoted by women, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or differently abled entrepreneurs get a concession of 0.5% below the normal rate.

The investigation fee is 0.50% of the term loan applied for, plus service tax, where the loan is up to Rs 25,00,000, and 0.75% plus service tax above that. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs pay half the investigation fee.

The debt-equity ratio expected is 3:1 for a loan up to Rs 25,00,000 and 2:1 above that.

Collateral security is required in the form of immovable property, over and above the mortgage or hypothecation of the assets being financed. Property inside the Union Territory of Puducherry must be worth at least the sanctioned loan amount. Property outside Puducherry must be worth at least 150% of the loan if it is land with a building, and at least 200% if it is bare land. For units promoted by women, SC, ST or differently abled persons the requirement is reduced to 50% of the loan amount. Valuation is done by chartered engineers and valuers on PIPDIC's approved panel, not by a valuer of the borrower's choosing.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others online

PIPDIC accepts applications only through its own portal at pipdic.in. There is no paper counter for fresh loan applications, and no agent is authorised to file on your behalf.

1. Open pipdic.in and click Login, then choose the New customer link. Enter a username, an email ID, a password and the captcha, and click Register.
2. Log in with the registered email ID. PIPDIC sends a one-time password to that email address; enter the OTP and click Login to reach the customer dashboard.
3. Open Edit Profile from the top right corner of the dashboard, complete every required field about yourself and the enterprise, and click Submit. An incomplete profile blocks the application form.
4. Click the Applications tab. A pop-up shows the checklist of general terms and conditions, the interest rate structure, the investigation fee and the collateral security norms. Read it, gather the listed papers, and click I Agree.
5. Choose the correct application form. PIPDIC publishes four forms; Up to 25 Lakhs, Above 25 Lakhs, Transport, and the Merit Loan Letter — and fill the multi-step form, completing every mandatory field.
6. Read the declaration, which covers the truth of the information, the absence of any unauthorised borrowing arrangement and consent to verification. Tick I agree to terms and click Submit.
7. Enter the bio-data of the promoter, partner or director on the screen that follows, and upload each KYC and supporting document using the Choose File button beside the field.
8. Pay the application fee, Rs 100 for a loan up to Rs 25,00,000 and Rs 200 for a loan above Rs 25,00,000. Online payment redirects you to a summary page before the debit.
9. Save or print the fee receipt generated after payment. Keep it, because it carries the reference PIPDIC uses when you call about the file.

How to check the status of a PIPDIC application

1. Log in to pipdic.in with the registered email ID and the OTP sent to it.
2. Click View My application on the dashboard.
3. Select the relevant loan application from the drop-down menu.

A freshly filed application shows as UNDER REVIEW. The status moves on as PIPDIC completes the technical appraisal, the site inspection and the valuation of the property offered as collateral. If the status has not changed for several weeks, call the corporation on 0413-2334361 quoting the application number on your fee receipt rather than filing a second application, since a duplicate file attracts a second application fee.

Why PIPDIC applications get rejected or delayed

• Profile not completed on the portal, so the application form never opens.

• Collateral property falls short of the prescribed value once PIPDIC's panel valuer files the report. A borrower who relies on a private valuation from outside the panel is the most common casualty here.

• Title defects: property that is jointly held without every co-owner joining the mortgage, or property with an unreleased earlier charge.

• Default with another lender. PIPDIC checks credit records, and an outstanding default against the promoter or a group concern stops the file.

• Missing or unreadable uploads of KYC and financial documents.

• Application fee unpaid. The file is not taken into appraisal until the Rs 100 or Rs 200 fee is received and the receipt generated.

• Activity outside Puducherry. PIPDIC finances units located in the Union Territory of Puducherry, covering the Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions.

• The equipment does not fit a listed component. Because this scheme is a list rather than a general purpose facility, an item outside the six heads is redirected to another PIPDIC scheme instead of being sanctioned here.

• Need-based request without a quotation. With no fixed cap on most components, the quotation is the only anchor PIPDIC has.

Key dates

The Scheme for Acquisition of Equipment and Others is open all year, with no notified window and no last date for applications. A unit installing pollution control equipment under a time-bound direction from the pollution control board should file early, because PIPDIC's appraisal, valuation and legal scrutiny run to their own timetable and cannot be compressed to meet a regulatory deadline.

Whom to contact for help or a grievance

• Managing Director, PIPDIC, No. 60, Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry 605001 to phone 0413-2334361, email info@pipdic.com.
• General Manager (Administration), mobile 9894653835.
• Online grievance form at pipdic.in/grievance_form, which is the route that creates a written record.
• PIPDIC also holds virtual open house hearings for public grievances, notified on the portal.
• Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Puducherry, is the administrative department above PIPDIC if a grievance is not settled by the corporation.

Filing an application on pipdic.in costs only the notified application fee. No official or intermediary is authorised to collect anything else for processing a file, and PIPDIC never asks for the OTP sent to your registered email.