National SC-ST Hub

Pick the right component first

NSSH is a set of separate components, and each one pays back a different cost. Match the cost you have actually incurred:

• Took a business loan and paid a processing fee: the bank loan processing fee reimbursement.
• Won a government or PSU order that needed a performance bank guarantee: the performance bank guarantee charges reimbursement. A guarantee given as earnest money deposit is not covered.
• Had products or raw materials tested, or got BIS certification: the testing fee reimbursement.
• Export or plan to: the Export Promotion Council membership reimbursement.
• Sell on GeM, TRIFED, Tribes India, MSME Mart or similar: the e-commerce portal membership reimbursement.
• Buying new plant or machinery on a bank term loan: the capital subsidy, applied for through your bank.
• Want to visit or exhibit at a trade fair: the marketing assistance scheme, approved before the event.
• Want to bid on government purchases: NSIC single point registration at the token fee.
• Want to build skills: the free training courses, or the short management course reimbursement.

Check ownership before anything else

The enterprise must be SC/ST-owned: a sole proprietor must be SC/ST, SC/ST partners must hold at least 51 per cent in a partnership, and SC/ST promoters must hold at least 51 per cent in a private limited company. Keep your Udyam Registration and caste certificates ready, along with PAN and a cancelled cheque.

How claims work

• Spend first, claim after. Reimbursements pay back a cost you have already paid. You need receipts and proof of payment, such as a bank-attested debit statement.
• Wait for the right moment. The loan fee can be claimed only after the loan is disbursed, and the testing fee only with the final attested test report.
• Claims run on quarters. A claim whose reference date falls in a quarter has to reach the implementing agency by the end of the next quarter.
• No double claims. The same cost cannot be claimed under another government or private scheme.
• Trade fairs need prior approval. Do not book and pay for an event before you have approval.
• The capital subsidy goes through your bank. Submit the application and documents to the bank that gave the term loan. The machinery must be new, and fabricated or second-hand machinery is not eligible. Claim within a year of the last loan instalment.

Confirm the scheme is open

The revised guidelines say the scheme runs till 31 March 2026, subject to review, and we found no page announcing an extension, even though the website still shows every component as open. Ask before you spend. The hub's role inbox is scsthub@nsic.co.in, and its numbers are 011-26926275 (extensions 140 and 259) and the toll-free line 1800-11-1954.

What reviewers check

• Ownership proof that meets the 51 per cent test.
• Documents that match the claim: invoices, receipts and bank statements showing the exact cost being claimed.
• The right institution: for testing, an NABL or BIS-accredited lab or a government lab; for the guarantee, a Scheduled Commercial Bank; for the loan fee, a Scheduled Commercial Bank, NBFC or State Finance Corporation.

The National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) is a Government of India scheme under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, implemented through the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a public-sector undertaking under that ministry. It was launched by the Prime Minister on 18 October 2016 and serves enterprises owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs. Its head office is at NSIC Bhawan, Okhla Industrial Estate, New Delhi.

NSSH is not an incubator and does not run cohorts. It is a set of components, each covering one kind of business cost, plus free training and a registration route for selling to government buyers. Several components are aimed at helping SC/ST-owned enterprises take part in public procurement.

How the components work

Most components are reimbursements. The enterprise first pays the cost itself, such as a bank's loan processing fee, the charge for a performance bank guarantee, a lab testing fee or an export council membership. It then files a claim with receipts and proof of payment, and part of that cost is paid back. This is not upfront funding and not a grant, and a claim can only be made after the money has been spent. An approved amount is paid through the PFMS portal into the enterprise's bank account. Claims are raised quarterly: a claim whose reference date falls in one quarter has to reach the implementing agency by the end of the next quarter. The hub does not allow the same cost to be claimed here and under another government or private scheme.

The reimbursement components are the bank loan processing fee, performance bank guarantee charges, testing fee, Export Promotion Council membership, membership of government-promoted e-commerce portals such as GeM, TRIFED and MSME Mart, and short management courses at top-ranked institutes. Each has a ceiling on how much can be claimed in a financial year.

Two components work differently. The Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, introduced in 2017, is a capital subsidy on a bank term loan taken to buy new plant and machinery. The enterprise applies through the bank that gave the loan, not to NSSH directly. The Special Marketing Assistance Scheme supports visits to and participation in domestic and international trade fairs, and it needs approval before each event rather than a claim afterwards.

The hub also offers free skill and entrepreneurship training through partner institutions, and NSIC's single point registration at a token fee for SC/ST-owned enterprises.

Who can apply

Every component is for SC/ST-owned micro and small enterprises. Ownership is tested. A sole proprietor must be SC/ST. In a partnership, SC/ST partners must hold at least 51 per cent of the shares. In a private limited company, at least 51 per cent of the shares must be held by SC/ST promoters. Applicants are asked for a Udyam Registration and for caste certificates of the proprietor, or of all partners or directors.

Two points on eligibility are not fully consistent across the hub's pages. The scheme page and the revised guidelines for the capital subsidy cover both manufacturing and service enterprises and exclude trading, while an older line in the hub's question-and-answer page refers only to manufacturing; check with the lending bank before assuming a service business qualifies. The marketing assistance table also lists a ceiling for medium SC/ST enterprises, although the hub is described as being for micro and small enterprises.

How to apply

Reimbursement claims are filed online through the NSSH portal, or through a Common Service Centre operator. The capital subsidy application goes to the bank that gave the term loan, which then uploads the claim to the ministry's portal. Trade-fair support is applied for in advance. Applicants for the short management courses file online and then submit a signed printed copy.

The hub's role inbox is scsthub@nsic.co.in, and its toll-free number is 1800-11-1954.

Is the scheme still running

The revised guidelines, issued by the ministry in May 2025 for the financial cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26, say the scheme applies till 31 March 2026, with continuation subject to review. The hub's website still presents every component as open, and its homepage links an application for a business accelerator programme for 2026-27. None of the pages we read states a formal extension. Its event and training calendars are also out of date: the homepage links an event calendar that stops at September 2024, the trade-fair page shows a 2023-24 calendar, and the training calendar page was empty when we checked. Confirm with the hub that a component is open before you spend money expecting to claim it back.

Business accelerator programmes

The hub's annual report for 2025-26 says business accelerator programmes for existing entrepreneurs and their wards have been held through IRMA and several IIMs, among them Mumbai, Raipur, Shillong, Sambalpur, Sirmaur, Kashipur, Trichy, Ranchi, Bodh Gaya and Nagpur. We could not confirm the terms, dates or eligibility of the 2026-27 intake, so we have not written it up as a programme.

Scale

The hub's homepage reports 1,90,414 SC/ST beneficiaries assisted, as on 31 July 2026. It reports 54,499 SC/ST candidates trained; the homepage dates that figure 31 July 2026 while the annual report gives the same number as of 31 March 2026. The annual report says 10,717 candidates were trained in 2025-26 from forty-seven training institutions in 27 states, and that 36,141 beneficiaries have used the reimbursement components, 1,992 of them in 2025-26. It also says 3,160 enterprises in 27 states and union territories, across 233 districts, have received the capital subsidy, and that 141 enterprises were helped to take part in four domestic exhibitions in 2025-26. These are the hub's own figures.

Who runs it

NSSH is implemented by NSIC for the Ministry of MSME, with state-level National SC-ST Hub offices alongside NSIC's zonal and branch offices.