Tripura Industrial Investment Promotion Incentive Scheme (TIIPIS), 2022

What is the Tripura Industrial Investment Promotion Incentive Scheme?

Tripura Industrial Investment Promotion Incentive Scheme (TIIPIS), 2022 is the Government of Tripura's principal industrial incentive package. The Department of Industries and Commerce notified it in May 2022, and the scheme came into effect on 1 April 2022 and remains in force for five years, ending 31 March 2027.

TIIPIS 2022 replaces the earlier Scheme-2017 for new units. Enterprises that commenced commercial production before 1 April 2022 continue under Scheme-2017; those starting on or after that date come under Scheme-2022.

This is an enterprise scheme, not a citizen scheme. There is no personal benefit, stipend or loan for an individual under TIIPIS. The claimant is always a registered industrial enterprise that has already begun commercial production.

What incentives does TIIPIS 2022 offer?

The notification lists fifteen headings. The main ones:

1. Capital Investment Subsidy

One-time capital investment subsidy for substantial expansion is available within the same applicable ceiling.

2. Industrial Promotion Subsidy equal to the net GST actually paid, subject to Rs 80 lakh per annum, or Rs 125 lakh for thrust-sector industries. The aggregate entitlement over five years cannot exceed 150 per cent of the investment in plant and machinery.

3. Power charges. Units with connected load above 20 HP get power at Rs 5.00 per unit with no upper ceiling. Units up to 20 HP get 25 per cent reimbursement of power charges actually paid, capped at Rs 15 lakh per enterprise per annum, or Rs 25 lakh for thrust-sector industries.

4. Interest reimbursement on term loans at 4 per cent, capped at Rs 5 lakh per enterprise per annum, and at 5 per cent capped at Rs 12 lakh for thrust-sector industries.

5. Procurement preference of 15 per cent on state government tenders for products manufactured in Tripura, subject to matching the lowest bidder's price and to 20 per cent value addition in the state.

6. Standard certification to 100 per cent one-time reimbursement of charges for certifications in 12 selected areas, plus renewal fees and technology transfer fees from recognised national or international laboratories.

7. Earnest money exemption to 100 per cent exemption from earnest money and bid security deposits on state government tenders.

8. Employment Cost Subsidy to 100 per cent reimbursement of EPF and ESI employer contributions for thrust-sector MSMEs employing 20 or more skilled and semi-skilled workers domiciled in Tripura.

9. Export Promotion Subsidy to 10 per cent on the value of exports through Land Custom Stations in the state, capped at Rs 50 lakh per annum, for items manufactured in Tripura with at least 20 per cent value addition.

10. Fairs and exhibitions to 50 per cent of travel and goods-transport cost for thrust-sector industries, capped at Rs 1 lakh per participation, maximum two participations a year.

11. State Transport Subsidy to 50 per cent of the cost of transporting secondary raw materials, computed on the Railway Standard Parcel Rate.

12. ZED bonus: one-time additional subsidy for Udyam-registered MSMEs holding ZED certification: Rs 2 lakh where plant and machinery investment is up to Rs 1 crore, Rs 5 lakh between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore, and Rs 10 lakh above Rs 10 crore.

13. Special incentives after five years — enterprises that continue operating for five years get a further five-year package, including 25 per cent of net GST paid as Industrial Promotion Subsidy and 50 per cent of EPF and ESI employer contribution for MSMEs employing 20 or more Tripura-domiciled persons.

Who is eligible for TIIPIS 2022, and who is excluded

Eligible enterprises:

• Micro, small, medium and large industrial enterprises commencing commercial production in Tripura on or after 1 April 2022 and on or before 31 March 2027.
• Units in the private sector, co-operative sector, self-help groups, joint sector, and companies owned or managed by the state government.
• Private infrastructure developers creating industrial infrastructure on land not below 30 acres.
• Enterprises that have secured an Incentives Eligibility Certificate from the General Manager of the District Industries Centre.

Not eligible, these cannot apply:

• Individual citizens seeking a personal grant, loan or allowance. TIIPIS carries no individual benefit of any kind.
• Enterprises that commenced commercial production before 1 April 2022. These remain under Scheme-2017.
• Enterprises that have not yet started commercial production.
• Activities on the Negative List in Annexure-I: all service-sector activities other than hotels with investment of Rs 10 crore or more excluding land, medical diagnostic centres and radiological laboratories with Rs 1 crore investment, specified tourism activities with minimum Rs 3 crore investment, hospitals or nursing homes with Rs 3 crore investment and at least 25 beds, and fully mechanised tea mixing and blending.
• Bricks, brickbats, stone chips and burnt earthen tiles, with exceptions for fly ash, sand lime and refractory bricks and mechanised or natural-gas-fired brick making.
• Distribution of electricity; civil aviation other than regional airlines hubbed at Agartala; huller rice mills; physical mixing of fertiliser and vermicompost.
• Wood furniture other than rubber wood or mechanised units investing Rs 40 lakh or more; saw mills other than those in notified rubber wood processing areas.
• Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; pan masala; plastic carry bags below 20 microns; petroleum refinery products; alcoholic beverages.
• Units doing only peripheral operations; storage, cleaning, packing, repacking, labelling, sorting or altering retail sale price.
• Units in default to government agencies, financial institutions or government undertakings.

How to apply for TIIPIS 2022 incentives

1. Register the enterprise. Obtain Udyam Registration through the national MSME portal, or the relevant industrial licence, letter of intent, IEM or SIA reference, and any clearance required for a compulsorily licensable industry.
2. Start commercial production. No incentive is payable until the unit has actually gone into commercial production or operation.
3. Apply for the Incentives Eligibility Certificate to the General Manager of the District Industries Centre for your district. The GM is the competent authority to issue it, and no component claim can be filed without it.
4. File the component claim on the SWAAGAT portal in the prescribed application form, addressed to the General Manager of the DIC concerned, with the documents listed against that form.
5. Route all payments through banking channels. Cash transactions are not counted in the incentive computation, so keep cheque, draft and bank transfer records for every item claimed.
6. Submit within the time limit for that component, the schedule is set out below.
7. Receive the incentive through the bank or financial institution that financed the project, or into the unit's own bank account if the project is self-financed.

Units seeking the Operational Subsidy or Additional Subsidy offered to enterprises continuing operations beyond five years must obtain a fresh Incentives Eligibility Certificate from the GM of the DIC.

Claim deadlines by component

The scheme is explicit that non-submission of claims within the stipulated time period will not be considered. The first or last claim of a unit may be filed for part of a quarter, half-year or year, depending on the date commercial production started.

Why claims fail, and how to avoid it

• No Incentives Eligibility Certificate. The commonest procedural failure. Secure it from the DIC before you file any component claim.
• Claim filed late. The one-year and six-month windows are strict.
• Cash transactions in the claim. Only banking-channel payments count. Rebuild the claim from cheque and transfer records.
• Activity on the Negative List. Check Annexure-I against your product line before you invest, not at claim stage.
• Production started before 1 April 2022. File under Scheme-2017 instead.
• Default to a government agency or lender. Clear the default; no subsidy is granted while it stands.
• Value addition below 20 per cent for procurement preference or export promotion subsidy claims.
• Unit not in operation at the time of disbursal. The scheme conditions payment on the unit being in operation.

Transfer, lease and continuity

TIIPIS 2022 addresses ownership change directly. If a newly set-up enterprise is sold or otherwise transferred within five years, the incentive is available to the transferee or new owner only for the unexpired portion of the five-year period. Where an industrial enterprise set up in the government sector or otherwise is leased to a third party for self-sustained running or under a public-private partnership model, Scheme-2022 applies to the lessee for the unexpired portion of the five-year period, but excluding the capital investment subsidy.

Where an incentive is allowed for a specified period counted from the date of commencement of commercial production, that benefit continues until the specified period expires, even beyond 31 March 2027.

Contacts and interpretation

• Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tripura, Agartala 799006
• General Manager, District Industries Centre of your district. The operative authority for eligibility certificates and claims
• SWAAGAT portal, the online route for all claim submissions
• Tripura CM Helpline: 1905

On any doubt or dispute about the scheme's provisions, the notification reserves interpretation to the State Government alone, and states that its clarification is final and binding. The State Government also retains the power to amend or repeal any provision of Scheme-2022 at any time, so check the current notification on the Tripura state portal before committing an investment plan to a particular incentive figure.