The Quality Council of India (QCI) and the National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding to establish a collaborative ecosystem aimed at strengthening quality, competitiveness and market access for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across India. The partnership brings together QCI's expertise in quality, accreditation and certification with NSIC's extensive MSME support ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of globally recognized quality standards.
The collaboration integrates key national initiatives including the MSME Sustainable (ZED) Certification Scheme, MSME Global Mart, the TEAM Initiative and the Single Point Registration Scheme (SPRS) to enable MSMEs to leverage the strengths of both organizations through a unified support framework. Specifically, ZED-certified MSMEs will receive enhanced opportunities for digital commerce through MSME Global Mart, onboarding on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) under the TEAM Initiative, AI-enabled product cataloguing, and export promotion through dedicated digital platforms.
The partnership will facilitate wider adoption of Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) Certification, improve digital market access, strengthen testing and accreditation infrastructure, and expand capacity-building opportunities for MSMEs and training institutions. It will strengthen convergence between ZED Certification and NSIC's Single Point Registration Scheme, support NABL accreditation for NSIC testing facilities, and enable NABET-led assessment, accreditation and customised capacity-building programmes for NSIC training centers and laboratories.
To ensure effective implementation, QCI and NSIC will constitute a Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) comprising representatives from both organizations. The committee will meet every quarter to identify new areas of collaboration, monitor progress and guide the implementation of joint initiatives during the five-year tenure of the MoU. The MoU was signed at the QCI Office, World Trade Centre, New Delhi, in the presence of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NSIC Dr. Subhransu Sekhar Acharya, Senior Director and Head of National Division for Industry Excellence (NDIE) at QCI Dr. A. Raj, CEO of NABL Dr. Ramanand N. Shukla, CEO of NABET Dr. Varinder S. Kanwar, and senior officials from both organizations.
Dr. Acharya stated that MSMEs are central to India's journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047 and that the partnership brings together quality, market access and institutional support to create greater opportunities for MSMEs to enhance competitiveness and expand into new markets. Dr. Raj emphasized that the collaboration harnesses the complementary strengths of QCI and NSIC to accelerate quality adoption across India's MSME ecosystem, integrating ZED Certification with QCI's quality infrastructure including NABL, NABET and the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) while leveraging NSIC's outreach mechanisms.