Subsidy to Pollution Control Equipment under Motivation of Entrepreneurs to Start Industries and Fiscal Assistance to Capital Intensive Industries

What is the pollution control equipment subsidy in Puducherry?

Subsidy to Pollution Control Equipment is a component of the "Motivation of Entrepreneurs to Start Industries and Fiscal Assistance to Capital Intensive Industries" scheme of the Industries and Commerce Department, Union Territory of Puducherry. The component came into force with effect from 1 April 2017 and operates in the whole of the Union Territory, including Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

The subsidy answers a specific commercial problem. Effluent treatment plants, scrubbers, dust collection systems and similar equipment are compulsory for many processes but produce no revenue, so a small unit tends to spend the minimum it can get away with. The Puducherry administration meets 25% of that cost, up to a maximum of Rs 5,00,000 per unit, so that compliance spending competes better against production spending inside the unit's own capital budget.

The assistance is allowed only on the basis of expenditure actually incurred and eligible assets actually created towards installation of pollution control equipment as specified by the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee. That last phrase matters: the Committee's specification, not the vendor's marketing description, decides what counts.

Applications are accepted offline only, in the prescribed common subsidy application form available on the Department's website.

Who is eligible for the pollution control equipment subsidy?

Units that can claim:

• Any industrial unit in the Union Territory of Puducherry that has installed pollution control equipment of a kind specified by the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee.
• New units, meaning those that commenced commercial production on or after 1 April 2017, and existing units, meaning those that commenced production before that date.
• Units making additional investment after an earlier claim, up to the Rs 5 lakh ceiling.
• Units financed by PIPDIC, another government corporation, a scheduled bank or a co-operative bank, as well as self-financed units.

Conditions that must be satisfied:

• The unit must provide at least 60% of its total employment strength to people of the Union Territory of Puducherry, and maintain that share for the period specified in the affidavit.
• The unit must not transfer or dispose of fixed assets including plant and machinery until five years from the date of application or disbursement, whichever is later.
• The date of commencement admitted by the entrepreneur is reckoned only after due verification by officials of the Industries Department.

Who is not eligible:

• Individuals applying for a personal benefit. There is no household component; individuals cannot apply.
• Units claiming for equipment that the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee does not treat as pollution control equipment.
• Claims based on quotations, orders or advances rather than expenditure actually incurred and assets actually created.
• Units that breach the five-year lock-in on fixed assets.
• Units that miss the one-year claim window without condonation.

Special case. Where two or more industrial undertakings are set up by the same person as proprietor, or with common partners, common board of directors or shareholders, each unit is eligible for subsidy as a separate entity, provided the locations are different and licences, clearances and registrations have been obtained separately for each enterprise.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the pollution control equipment subsidy

1. Download and print the prescribed form from industry.py.gov.in/common-application-subsidies and mark the pollution control equipment component clearly.
2. Fill in every mandatory field, listing the equipment installed, its cost, the date of installation, and the corresponding entry in the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee's consent or clearance.
3. Attach self-attested copies of all mandatory documents, registration, the PPCC consent, equipment invoices with payment proof, the chartered accountant's certificate, and the 60% local employment affidavit.
4. Submit the duly filled and signed application with enclosures to the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009.
5. Take a receipt or acknowledgement carrying the date and time of submission and a unique identification number.

What happens after submission?

1. The Directorate of Industries scrutinises the application on merit and determines the quantum of subsidy admissible.
2. The case is placed before the State Level Committee, which examines the merits, decides whether the unit qualifies, and recommends the amount admissible.
3. The subsidy is released in single or multiple instalments depending on the availability of funds.

How is the money paid?

• Financed units. The subsidy is disbursed only through the financial institution or bank, adjusted against the loan availed or applied towards creating additional fixed assets or working capital. Financial institution here includes PIPDIC or any other government corporation and scheduled banks including co-operative banks.
• Self-financed units: the subsidy is disbursed directly to the entrepreneur or the unit.

By when must the claim be filed?

• New units; within one year from the date of obtaining the Entrepreneurs Memorandum Part-II, permanent registration or the commencement of production certificate.
• Existing units; within one year of completing the expansion, diversification or modernisation in the course of which the equipment was installed.

A unit that installs an effluent treatment plant during an expansion should therefore file the subsidy claim in the same year as the expansion is commissioned, not when the plant is finally stabilised.

How to check the status of a claim

1. Keep the unique identification number from the acknowledgement to hand.
2. Contact the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Thattanchavady, on +91-413-2248476, 2248168 or 2248320 and ask whether the file is at scrutiny, awaiting inspection, or listed before the State Level Committee.
3. Karaikal units can follow up on +91-4368-265438, Yanam on +91-884-2321257, and Mahe on +91-490-233235.

Why pollution control subsidy claims are rejected

• The equipment is not on the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee's specification. Ordinary process equipment described as "environment friendly" will not pass.
• No PPCC consent or clearance covering the installed system.
• Advance payments or quotations submitted instead of paid invoices, when the scheme requires expenditure actually incurred.
• Assets disposed of within the five-year lock-in period.
• The 60% local employment condition not maintained during the affidavit period.
• Claim filed after the one-year window with no case for condonation.
• Cost inflated above what the chartered accountant's certificate and the books support.

Grievance redressal

Grievances are raised through the Industries and Commerce Department's grievance redressal mechanism at industry.py.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism. Above that, the Director of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009, and the Secretary to Government (Industries and Commerce), Chief Secretariat, Puducherry 605001, phone +91-413-2336115, are the escalation points.

The prescribed form costs nothing, and no fee is payable to any intermediary to have a claim placed before the State Level Committee.