ZED SCHEME FAILED FOR MICRO SECTOR: FOPSIA

Ludhiana, October 3, 2018: Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) president has stated here today that the ZED scheme of government of India has put the micro sector of India in tight corner.

In a statement here today, he added that after the failure of Demonetization, GST, Make in India and skill India the biggest failure of Modi Government is its quality improvement scheme Zero Effect Zero Defect (ZED)

In almost all the speeches prime minister raise loudly the implementation of ZED in India but this scheme is proving a curse for 6 crore micro units of India.

ZED scheme was launched on 18, October 2016 in Ludhiana by Prime Minister Naarendra Modi, The budget of the scheme is 491 crore and in the first phase the target was to issue ZED certificates to 22,222 MSMEs.

The parameter of this scheme are kept as per international level so its impossible for the unorganized micro sector to achieve such parameters.

The parameters are so hard that it is almost impossible for the Micro Sector to comply with the conditions of ZED. This is the only reason that in last two years among 6 crore micro units only 5 units got success in getting the ZED certification.

ZED is a replacement of ISO and five categories were framed for rating bronze, silver, gold, diamond and platinum.

By now the total registrations for ZED are 20935 but the process is so tidy that by now only 68 companies got success in getting the ZED rating. Among 68 units 5 belongs to micro category , 13 belongs to medium and 50 units belongs to small category.

Only one unit got Diamond certification and not a single unit got success in getting Platinum certification.

Punjab merely got two ZED certifications one each in Jalandhar and Mandi Gobindgarh,
Tamil Nadu got 13 registrations, whereas Gujarat and Maharashtra got 10 each. Haryana have the better position to Punjab with 8 certifications, Karnataka 5 UP and Uttarakhand little ahead with three each certifications. Many states still have to open their account in ZED

After this new certification system the procurement companies in india and abroad including public sector companies will prefer the ZED certified companies which may create hurdles in growth of micro sector.

The implementation agency of ZED is Quality Council of India and it has no offices in anywhere India except New Delhi. The company is also not having sufficient supervisory staff.

Even after the 628 awareness programs and 117 training camps the number of ZED certifications in India is merely 68. Which clearly indicates the failure of this scheme in masses.

“There is a dire need to ease the parameters of ZED for micro sector as this sector is most unorganized sector and requires a special care”, said the FOPSIA president, adding, “Failing which this sector which holds about 98% share in MSME with around 6 crore micro units will loose its share in all procurement and benefit schemes of government of India.”