Ministry of MSME

Pick the scheme by what you are doing

These schemes are not interchangeable, and most of them are not for pre-revenue startups. Match your situation first:

• Starting a new micro enterprise and need a bank loan with a subsidy on top: PMEGP.
• Already registered on Udyam and want a quality certification at a subsidised cost: ZED certification.
• Need a loan without collateral: ask a registered lender about the CGTMSE guarantee. You do not apply to CGTMSE yourself.
• A manufacturer who wants a new or improved product designed: the Design component of the Innovative Scheme.
• Have filed, or want to file, a patent, trademark, design or GI: the IPR component.
• An individual with an idea for a prototype: the MSME Idea Hackathon, when a round is open.
• A problem with a payment, a complaint, or no idea which scheme fits: the MSME Champions portal.

How applications work

Almost everything starts on a portal, not with the Ministry. PMEGP is online only and needs Aadhaar. ZED registration is free, and the ZED site warns that no consultant may charge for registration. Hackathon ideas go through the incubation portal to the Host Institute you pick. CGTMSE cover is requested by your lender, after your loan is sanctioned.

Get a Udyam registration first. ZED, the Design and IPR components and the hackathon's MSME category all ask for it.

Before you apply to PMEGP

• Check the portal that the scheme is taking applications now. The published guidelines cover the period to 2025-26.
• Only one person per family can apply, and the unit must be new.
• Plan for the entrepreneurship development training if you have none. The subsidy is not released until it is done.
• The subsidy reaches you through the bank, after a lock-in period, so a bank that will lend to your project is the first thing to line up.

How selection works

The Design component goes from the Implementing Agency to a Project Assessment Panel and then to the Ministry's approval committee. Hackathon ideas go through the Host Institute panel, a Ministry screening, a Domain Expert Selection Committee and final approval. IPR claims are scrutinised by an IP Facilitation Centre before the Ministry approves them.

What helps

• A clear, buildable idea for the hackathon. The instructions say the idea must lead to a working prototype, model, proof of concept or product, and one idea goes to one Host Institute.
• Matching documents. The hackathon asks for a government ID as age proof. The IPR component needs a valid Udyam registration and a declaration that no other funding was claimed for the same filing.
• Honest category. Pick MSME, student or others on the hackathon form to match what you can document.

Watch out

• Where two official pages disagree, the Ministry's own addendum or latest instructions should win. For example, the ZED subsidy page and its 2023 addendum differ for women-owned MSMEs.
• Be careful of anyone who offers to apply on your behalf for a fee. The ZED site says registration is free and that no agency may charge for it.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Ministry of MSME) is the Government of India ministry for the MSME sector. It does not run one programme. It runs a set of central schemes, each with its own portal and its own route in: a credit-linked subsidy for new enterprises, a quality certification, a credit guarantee for collateral-free loans, design and IP support, an idea hackathon and a grievance portal. The Ministry's office is in New Delhi.

This page covers the schemes a founder or first-time entrepreneur can approach directly. The Ministry runs more, including capital subsidy, lean manufacturing, coir, khadi and artisan schemes, which have their own programme pages in our directory.

How the schemes work

Most Ministry schemes are delivered through an agency. PMEGP is run by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), ZED with the Quality Council of India, and the credit guarantee by CGTMSE, a trust set up jointly by the Ministry and SIDBI. The design and IP parts of the Innovative Scheme go through Implementing Agencies and IP Facilitation Centres, and the hackathon through approved Host Institutes. So the first step is usually the portal or the lender that fronts the scheme. Most routes are open all year. The hackathon runs in numbered rounds.

PMEGP

The Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme is a credit-linked subsidy. It was launched by the Ministry in 2008-09 to create jobs in rural and urban India. The bank funds the balance of the project cost. The subsidy is routed through KVIC and a nodal bank to the financing branch, and it is credited to the beneficiary after a lock-in period.

Any individual above 18 can apply, with no income ceiling, and only one person per family (self and spouse count as one family). Projects must be new, with capital expenditure, and units that have already taken a government subsidy are not eligible. Larger projects need at least an 8th-standard pass. Applicants from special categories, including SC, ST, OBC, minorities, women, ex-servicemen, transgender and differently-abled applicants, and those in the north-eastern region, aspirational districts, and hill and border areas, get a higher subsidy and put in less of their own money. Applicants without prior training must complete an entrepreneurship development programme before the subsidy is released.

Applications are online only, on the PMEGP portal run by KVIC. Aadhaar is mandatory. After final submission an application ID is issued, and the application is forwarded to the implementing agency you chose and then to a bank branch for the loan. The published guidelines are the 2022 version, which approve the scheme for the period up to 2025-26. No page we found confirms the period after that, so check the portal for the current position before you start.

ZED certification

MSME Sustainable (ZED) Certification, short for Zero Defect Zero Effect, is open to all MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal. Registration on the ZED portal is free and paperless, and the site warns that no agency or consultant may charge for registration. You register, take the ZED Pledge, and then apply for one of three levels: Bronze, Silver or Gold. The Ministry subsidises the cost of certification, at a rate that depends on the size of the enterprise, with extra support for some groups.

The subsidy page on the ZED site still describes an additional benefit for women-, SC- and ST-owned MSMEs. A separate addendum on the same site, effective 11 November 2023, says women-owned MSMEs get a full subsidy on the certification cost and that the additional benefits no longer apply to them. Read both before relying on either. The Ministry's page says the scheme is for manufacturing MSMEs first, with services to follow. Each unit under one Udyam registration applies for certification separately.

The ZED dashboard shows counters for certified units: 747,751 Bronze, 9,745 Silver and 5,760 Gold when we checked. These are the Ministry's own undated figures.

CGTMSE credit guarantee

The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises is not a grant. CGTMSE guarantees collateral-free loans that a registered lender gives to a micro or small enterprise. You do not apply to CGTMSE. You ask a registered lender, such as a bank, NBFC or financial institution, for a term loan or working capital. The lender appraises and sanctions the loan, then lodges the guarantee application and CGTMSE issues the cover. Guarantee cover is higher for women entrepreneurs, SC and ST borrowers, persons with disability, aspirational districts and ZED-certified enterprises.

CGTMSE reports 1.41 crore cumulative guarantees approved and 322 registered lending institutions, as of 31 March 2026. These are its own figures.

MSME Innovative Scheme

The Innovative Scheme combines the Ministry's earlier Incubation, Design and IPR schemes into one scheme. Our directory lists its parts separately because each has a different applicant and route.

The Design component helps a manufacturing MSME hire a design consultant for a new product or an improvement to an existing one. The MSME applies online through an Implementing Agency. The agency screens the application, a Project Assessment Panel reviews it, and the Ministry's approval committee decides. The government share of the project cost is higher for micro enterprises than for small and medium ones, and the MSME pays the rest. A separate track lets students from AICTE or UGC accredited institutions work on a design project with an MSME.

The IPR component reimburses the cost of filing patents, trademarks, designs and Geographical Indications. The applicant needs a valid Udyam registration and must declare that no other central or state funding was claimed for the same filing. Partnership firms must show ownership of at least 51 per cent of the enterprise. The claim goes through the scheme portal and is checked by an IP Facilitation Centre before it reaches the Ministry.

The guidelines also describe incubation support through Host Institutes, equipment support for those institutes, and seed capital in equity form for beneficiaries who want to commercialise an idea, design or patent.

MSME Idea Hackathon

The hackathon is the incubation part of the Innovative Scheme and the route for an individual with an idea. Selected ideas are developed into a working prototype, model or proof of concept at a Host Institute that the applicant chooses. Financial assistance goes to the Host Institute for developing the idea. Applicants who are not students bear a share of the approved cost, and students pay nothing.

The rounds so far are the 2022 round, then 2.0 (theme based), 3.0 (women), 4.0 (youth) and 5.0, with 257, 276, 397, 488 and 502 approved ideas listed in that order. Round 6.0 is closed and its ideas are under evaluation. No next round has been announced. You apply on the Ministry's incubation portal, choose an approved Host Institute and submit one idea to one institute. The portal describes applicants as innovators of Indian origin, while the participation instructions describe Indian citizens aged 18 or above.

MSME Champions

The Champions portal is a help desk, not funding. An MSME can register a grievance, ask for guidance on schemes, or report a delayed payment. The portal says it works in eleven regional languages through 69 state control rooms.