Bhubaneswar: The state department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has amended parts of the existing Odisha MSME Development Policy 2016 to include incentives for the enterprises which adopt zero defect policy.
Under the amendments which were notified last week, the state government with support from the Union MSME Ministry would give incentives and financial support to such units which abide by the “Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) maturity assessment model” and are entitled for support under the “Financial Support to MSMEs in ZED Certification Scheme of the MSME Ministry.”
Under the ZED Certification Scheme, the Union government is providing a financial support in the range of 50 to 90 per cent to MSMEs on the cost of assessment and handholding. The state government under the new amended policy has decided to give the same amount of incentive to the enterprises in the balance amount after the enterprises get assistance from the Union government.
The state government believes this can give an impetus to the quality of products. The MSME department of the state while commenting on the new provision said, “This will not only promote the quality manufacturing among MSMEs of Odisha but also make them environmentally conscious leading them to be globally competitive over a period of time.”
The amended version of the Odisha MSME Developmental Policy also said to support the investment for the purpose of ensuring ZED ratings (ratings on quality checks) in products a one-time reimbursement of expenses incurred by the applicant MSME unit on acquisition of plant and machinery/testing equipment for obtaining ZED ratings would be provided at different rates based on the enterprise.
The ZED ratings are given in different categories like—Bronze, Gold, Diamond and Platinum. For the ratings, authorities assess the product for its quality, emission, effluent, waste disposal activities, resource management, legal compliances and other parameters and give it ratings accordingly.
