BHUBANESWAR: The MSME Department and Quality Council of India (QCI) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for implementation of Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) certification scheme.
The memorandum was signed by Additional Chief Secretary of MSME LN Gupta and secretary general of QCI Ravi P Singh in the presence of MSME Minister Prafulla Samal.The Minister said small and medium enterprises need a continuous effort to improve their product and processes to boost their sales, exports and revenue. The ZED certification scheme will help them in improving quality, which in turn will enhance competitiveness of Odisha MSMEs globally, he added.
Gupta said QCI is the national monitoring and implementing unit of financial support to MSMEs in ZED certification scheme. Once registered, MSMEs will get an opportunity to strive continuously to improve its process and aim to move up in the ZED maturity assessment model in terms of bronze, silver, gold, diamond and platinum categories.
Gupta said for one time reimbursement of expenses incurred by the MSME units on acquisition of plant and machinery/testing equipment for obtaining ZED ratings, the Government will provide assistance of `1 lakh for bronze rating, `2 lakh for silver, `3 lakh for gold, `4 lakh for diamond and `5 lakh for platinum certificate. The incentive provided by the Government is over and above the assistance by the Centre under ZED scheme, he informed.
Stating that QCI will provide support to MSMEs for implementation of ZED scheme to create a value chain for the new regime, Singh said it will facilitate the mechanism of assessment, rating and provide need-based handholding support to these units.
With the active support of the industry associations and other stakeholders, the business destination of MSMEs for overall growth, employment generation and promotion of exports will be achieved, he added.
Director of QCI Rajesh Maheswari addressed the technical session while Director of Industries PJ Nath gave the concluding address.