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 across India. The partnership brings together QCI's expertise in quality, accreditation and certification with NSIC's extensive MSME support ecosystem to accelerate 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 both organizations through a unified support framework. Specifically, it 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.
Under the partnership, 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 collaboration will also 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 centres and laboratories.
To ensure effective implementation, QCI and NSIC will constitute a Joint Coordination Committee comprising representatives from both organizations that will meet every quarter to identify new collaboration areas, monitor progress and guide implementation during the five-year MoU tenure. The MoU was signed at the QCI Office, World Trade Centre, New Delhi, with senior officials from both organizations present.
NSIC Chairman-cum-Managing Director Dr. Subhransu Sekhar 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 MSME competitiveness and market expansion. QCI's Senior Director Dr. A. Raj emphasized that the collaboration harnesses complementary strengths to accelerate quality adoption across India's MSME ecosystem through integration of ZED Certification with QCI's quality infrastructure including NABL, NABET and NABCB while leveraging NSIC's outreach mechanisms.