Scheme for Assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME): Assistance in Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

What is the ICT assistance component for MSMEs in Gujarat?

The Scheme for Assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is the Industries and Mines Department's umbrella incentive package for small industry in Gujarat. Assistance in Implementation of Information and Communication Technology is one component inside it. The component was carried in the Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020 package, operative from 7 August 2020, and continues in the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Scheme for Assistance to MSMEs notified by Government Resolution No. MIS-102022-1271(1)-I(Ch) dated 5 October 2022, which is operative from 5 October 2022 to 4 October 2027.

The benefit is short and precise. According to the draft ICT guideline published by the Industries Commissionerate, the scheme gives 65% of capital expenditure related to ICT facilities, up to a maximum of Rs 5,00,000 during the operative period of the scheme. It is a reimbursement, released after the hardware is bought and installed, not a grant paid in advance.

The purpose is practical. A small engineering unit in Rajkot or a textile processor in Surat that moves job cards, inventory, drawings and accounts to a cloud service still has to buy the hardware that reaches the cloud reliably: a managed switch, a router, a server, a backup device, workstations. Those are capital costs a micro enterprise usually postpones. Gujarat pays roughly two-thirds of them, once, up to Rs 5 lakh.

Key features

• Quantum: 65% of eligible ICT capital expenditure.
• Ceiling: Rs 5,00,000 in total during the operative period.
• Maximum three applications per enterprise, sharing that single Rs 5 lakh cap.
• Hardware only, the capital cost excludes the software part of the ICT system.
• Filed online on the Investor Facilitation Portal, ifp.gujarat.gov.in, with a hard copy at the District Industries Centre.

A parallel component with the same Rs 5,00,000 ceiling but a higher 75% rate exists for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs under Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyog Uday Yojana. An SC or ST promoter should check that route first, because the rate is better.

Who is eligible for ICT assistance in Gujarat?

An enterprise can claim if:

• It falls within the micro, small or medium classification defined in Para 1 of the Government Resolution dated 5 October 2022, judged on investment in plant and machinery.
• It holds an acknowledgement or registration from the Ministry of MSME or DPIIT, as the case may be; in practice, a Udyam registration.
• It is engaged in manufacturing and located in Gujarat.
• It has installed or subscribed to cloud computing: public, private or hybrid, and the equipment claimed is what lets it use that cloud.
• The hardware was bought from an OEM or an authorised distributor or dealer holding GST registration.
• The expenditure was incurred within one year before the date of installation of the cloud computing system.

Who cannot apply, or is not eligible:

• Individuals. This is an industrial incentive paid to a registered enterprise. There is no personal benefit and no payment to a person.
• Trading businesses and service activities. The guideline excludes both from this component.
• Enterprises whose claim is essentially for software: licences, ERP modules or subscription fees are struck out of the capital cost.
• Enterprises that bought from an unregistered or unauthorised supplier.
• Enterprises filing more than one year after installation, where installation is fixed by the date of the last bill in the CA-certified expenditure statement.
• Enterprises that have already exhausted the Rs 5 lakh ceiling or filed three applications during the operative period.
• An enterprise that installed the ICT system and commenced commercial production before 5 October 2022 — that case is directed to the previous scheme rather than to the Aatmanirbhar resolution.

What documents are required?

How to apply for ICT assistance

1. Subscribe to or install the cloud computing service first, along with the supporting hardware. The scheme is built around that installation, and the date of the last expenditure bill becomes the installation date on record.
2. Collect GST invoices from the OEM or authorised distributor for every switch, router, server, backup device and computer being claimed, and pay by cheque, demand draft or electronic transfer so a bank trail exists.
3. Have a chartered accountant certify the detailed ICT expenditure statement and the fixed capital investment statement.
4. Register on the Investor Facilitation Portal at ifp.gujarat.gov.in through New Investor Registration, confirm the verification email, and sign in.
5. File the incentive application for the MSME ICT component, entering enterprise details and uploading the Udyam registration, constitution documents, CA certificates, invoices, cloud proof, bank statement, PAN, GST and the board resolution.
6. Submit within one year of the installation date and save the application number shown on screen.
7. Deliver the hard-copy set to your District Industries Centre. The guideline directs enterprises to file the hard copy at the concerned DIC, and to file offline at the DIC until the online module for a component is live.
8. Attend verification if the DIC asks to inspect the installed hardware.

How is the claim processed and paid?

The District Industries Centre sanctions and disburses these MSME claims. Officers check three things above all: that every invoice comes from an OEM or authorised dealer with GST registration, that the bills fall inside the one-year window before installation, and that no software line item has been slipped into the capital cost. The eligible hardware cost is then multiplied by 65%, capped at Rs 5,00,000 net of anything already sanctioned, and credited to the enterprise's bank account.

The component is supplementary to Government of India schemes for the same purpose. Combined assistance from both governments, however, can never exceed the actual expenditure the MSME incurred, which is why the undertaking on assistance received is a mandatory document.

How do you check the status of an ICT application?

1. Sign in to ifp.gujarat.gov.in with the investor credentials used to file.
2. Open the incentive application dashboard and search by application number.
3. Read the stage shown, submitted, under scrutiny, query raised, sanctioned or disbursed.
4. For a file stuck at district level, contact the General Manager of your District Industries Centre with the acknowledgement number, then escalate to the Industries Commissionerate.

Why ICT claims get rejected

• Software billed as hardware. Licences and subscriptions are removed from the capital cost, often collapsing the claim value.
• No cloud computing. Without a public, private or hybrid cloud subscription or installation, the hardware has no qualifying purpose under the guideline.
• Invoices from a non-authorised supplier, or a vendor without GST registration.
• Cash payments with no bank trail.
• Expenditure older than one year before the installation date.
• Application filed late, more than one year after the last bill date.
• Trading or service activity discovered at verification.
• Ceiling already used through earlier applications.

Most of these are curable on re-filing, so an enterprise whose papers are returned should quote the original acknowledgement number rather than start a new application.

Where to get help

• District Industries Centre of your district. The receiving, verifying and sanctioning office for this component.
• Industries and MSME Commissionerate, Udyog Bhavan, Sector 11, Gandhinagar 382017 to +91 79 23252619, +91 79 23252689.
• Investor Facilitation Portal helpdesk at ifp.gujarat.gov.in/DIGIGOV/IFP-pages/contact.jsp for portal and login issues.
• Industries Commissionerate scheme pages at ic.gujarat.gov.in carry the Government Resolution, the draft guidelines, the application form and the checklist.

Filing on the Investor Facilitation Portal is free, and no consultant can guarantee a sanction.