International Cooperation Scheme of the Ministry of MSME, Govt of India – Capacity Building of First Time MSE Exporters – Guidelines issued
No.CLE-HO/MSME/2022-23
20th July 2022
To: Members of the Council
Dear Sirs,
Sub: International Cooperation Scheme of the Ministry of MSME, Govt of India – Capacity Building of First Time MSE Exporters – Guidelines issued – reg.
This is to inform that the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India, is implementing International Cooperation (IC) Scheme with the objective of provide International Marketing opportunities to MSMEs as well as to integrate them to global value chains. Financial assistance is provided to eligible State/Central Government Organization, registered industries Associations and Societies / Trusts involved in promotion and development of MSME Sectors. The IC Scheme has three sub-components namely (i) Market Development Assistance (MDA) both for physical as well as virtual mode (ii) Capacity Building of First Time MSE Exporters (CBFTE) (iii) Framework for International Market Intelligence Dissemination (IMID)
The guidelines for first component MDA were already notified by Ministry of MSME vide Circular dated 19.08.2021, and CLE as EPC is/will organize the marketing events in overseas countries by availing the support under the IC Scheme.
The guidelines for the second component Capacity Building of First Time MSE Exporters (CBFTE) have now been issued by the Ministry of MSME, vide Office Memorandum dated 15.07.2022. The following three activities are eligible for funding support under the component CBFTE:
| Sl.No. | Eligible activities | Funding support under IC Scheme |
| (i) | Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) charges / fee paid by the first-time exporter to related Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) | 75% of the cost paid subject to a maximum of Rs.20,000/- or actual, whichever is lower, subject to quarterly reporting by EPCs as per prescribed format. |
| (ii) | Export Insurance Premium paid to Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd (ECGC) under the ECGC’s Small Exporter’s Policy | Maximum financial assistance in a financial year of Rs.10,000/- or actual, whichever is lower, subject to quarterly reporting by ECGC as per prescribed format. |
| (iii) | Fee paid on Testing & Quality Certification acquired by MSEs to export the products | 75% of the testing and quality certification with a ceiling of Rs.1.00 Lakh or actual, whichever is lower, subject to following conditions:
· Financial assistance is allowed for a maximum of 3 certificates per financial year with a ceiling of Rs.1.00 Lakh per MSE unit. · Certificate, for which reimbursement claim is requested, should be attained within the same financial year |
Eligibility conditions for availing the above are:
- Applicant should be Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) with valid Udyam Registration
- Applicant’s Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) must not be older than 3 years on the date of export shipments.
A copy of the Guidelines of the CBFTE issued by Ministry of MSME, Govt of India vide Office Memorandum dated 15.07.2022 is attached herewith for your perusal.
It is requested that eligible Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) exporters may kindly take note of the above guidelines and accordingly submit their claims with the respective organizations namely, with CLE for activity (i) and with ECGC for activity (ii). Please note that the Ministry of MSME will separately notify the guidelines for the activity (iii) which are awaited.
Submission of Claims by first time MSEs to CLE
The activity (i) ‘RCMC charges / fee paid by the first-time Exporter to related EPCs’ will be implemented for leather and footwear sector through CLE, for which Ministry of MSME will be entering into MOU with CLE. Eligible Micro and Small Exporters may submit their claims to CLE, with following documents as Enclosures:
- Claim Form for Sub-Component II – Capacity Building of First Time MSE Exporters – Enterprise Details (as per Format Attached)
- Application Form for RCMC as per Form ANF-2C, prescribed by the DGFT – This Form should be of the same or prior date, of your submission of online application in the DGFT Website (as per Format Attached)
The claims of eligible Micro and Small Exporters for this activity, would be processed by the CLE and CLE will submit the consolidated claim to Ministry of MSME as per scheme guidelines.
With warm regards,
R. SELVAM, IAS
Executive Director
Council for Leather Exports