The Govt. of India, Department Of Commerce has accorded approval to the Export Promotion Scheme of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India to implement a scheme titled “Modernisation & Diversification Scheme ” with the following four components under Eleventh Plan.
PROCESS UPGRADATION/ MODERNIZATION OF CASHEW PROCESSING UNITS
SETTING UP FACILITIES FOR VALUE ADDITION/ CONSUMER PACKING OF CASHEW KERNELS
ADOPTION OF NEW PACKAGING SYSTEMS
IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED QUALITY SYSTEMS LIKE ISO, HACCP, ORGANIC, etc.
Eligibility Criteria
Exporters who are members of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India and remain so till the discharge of their entire export obligation, will be eligible for assistance under this scheme.
The scheme consisting of the four components may be implemented in a composite manner or component wise.
The grant would be 25% of the total eligible investment, of which civil works should not constitute more than 50% subject to a maximum total grant of Rs. 50 lakhs per exporter for all components put together. Grant-in-aid will be released in Indian Rupees only.
Approval of the council is a pre-requisite and expenditure incurred after issue of Council’s approval letter will only be considered for grant-in-aid.
Grant will be provided only for purchase of eligible finished items / equipments. As such, bills for materials for fabrication/construction of various items will not be considered. For example, in respect of cutting tables the bills should be for cutting tables and not for materials, labour charges, etc. This condition applies to all items except civil/building works.
Proposals involving civil works, Buildings, etc. should be accompanied by an essentiality certificate from a Chartered Engineer with drawings & estimate of expenditure, duly certified by the Chartered Engineer.
All Payments should be made through crossed cheque / DD and copies of all bills/vouchers should be duly certified by a practicing Chartered Accountant before submission of claim to the Council. Cash payments will not qualify for grant-in-aid.
Taxes, import duty and other levies will be eligible while installation, transportation, handling charges, electrical wiring & fittings, travel/ accommodation / food expenses etc. will not form part of the eligible items for grant-in-aid against any of the components under the scheme.
Exporters who avail loans from the banks as well as those invest their own money will be eligible for grant-in-aid. The grant amount of the exporters who avail bank loans would be paid to the banks.
Grant will be disbursed only after completion of the approved activity, inspection, verification, approval from the appropriate authority and fulfillment of export obligation.
The beneficiary has to fulfill an export obligation to effect cashew/cashew product export of five times of the grant amount provided to the beneficiary which will be achieved over one year period from the date of completion of the project. In any case, no grant-in-aid against this scheme will be released after 31st March 2012.
The release of the grant will be subject to production of a Bank Guarantee for an equivalent amount until the export obligation is fulfilled by the exporter. If the applicant fulfills the export obligation before release of eligible grant-in-aid, bank guarantee would not be required. If the export obligation of five times the grant is not achieved, the entire amount has to be refunded to the Council with interest at commercial lending rates of nationalized banks from the date of disbursement of grant.
ITEMS eligible for assistance under the scheme are:
1 ) Process Upgradation/Modernisation of Cashew processing units
1.Steam Cooking Vessels
2.Boiler
3.Cutting Machines & accessories
4.Peeling / Grading Platforms and accessories
5.Kernel Pieces Sizing Machine
6.Oil Expeller for CNSL extraction
7.Diesel Engine (specify the use)
8.Electric Motor (specify use)
9.Oil Tank for CNSL
10.Electric/Tunnel /Diesel, Thermal, Shell fired Borma (otherthan traditional borma)
11.Hot Air Generator & Accessories
12.Steel Trays/Aluminium Trays / Bowls
13.Kernel Roasting Machine with feeder
14.Colour Sorting Machine
15.Grading machines
16.Electronic count balance
17.Trolleys
18.Generator
19.Humidifier/Atomiser & Water purifier
20.Hydraulic carts and Forklifts
21.Pallets
22.Moisture Meter
23.Pump set & Motor
24.Mesh for Insect and bird proofing
25.Fire extinguisher
26.Insect Catcher / Exterminator
27.Conveyors
28.Rawnut Sizing Machine
29.Electronic weighing machine (maximum 2 nos.)
30.Magnetic metal separator
31.Foreign matter removal systems
32.Cashew Kernel Washing System
33.Dewatering system
34.CNSL Heater
35.CNSL/Chemical Pump
36.Air Curtain
37.Dicing Machine
38.Pollution Control System/Equipments
39.Automatic processing & packing systems like peeling machine, grading machine, cutting machine, filling & sealing machine, etc.
40.Building and related civil works
41.Non conventional Energy
42.Whole Kernel Sizing Machines
43.Kernel Sizing Machines
44.Electricity Generators
45.Weigh –bridges
46.Raw cashew Hot oil bath including oil-heaters, pumps, oil-tanks, centrifuges and product-handling conveyors.
47.Any other item as approvedby the Inspection Committee equipment
48.
2) Setting up facilities for Value Addition / Consumer Packing of
Cashew kernels roasting machinery
Salting / coating / flavouring machinery
Heating and cooling equipment for production processing
Consumer packaging machines
Printing machines for consumer packs
Labeling machines
Bar coding machines
Hopper / Feeding systems
Related Civil works.
Continuous/batch frying machines
Oil-heating systems
Oil tanks and handling systems
Oil filtration / cleaning systems
Nitrogen-generators
Weight-based filling systems (multi-head weighers)
34)Nitrogen/CO2 flushing systems including Nitrogen -tunnels, liquid-Nitrogen dosing systems
35)Vacuuming systems
36)Sealing systems including pouch- sealers, can/canister seamers, jar and tray-sealers, (Induction/hot-plate),
37)Non conventional energy equipment
38)Any other item as approved by the Inspection Committee
4) Implementation of internationally accepted Quality
1.ISO / HACCP/ Organic Consultancy charges
2.Certification charges
3.Certification Audit charges
4.Training charges
5.Safety equipments
6.Caliberation of Equipments
7.Printing of manuals, Training Materials, etc.
8.Air Curtain
9.Insect Proofing
10.Vacuum Cleaner
11.Air Purifier
12.Water purifying system
13.Atomiser and Hygrometer
14.Infrared Moisture Balance
15.Electronic Count Balance
16.Electronic weighing machine
17.Foreign matter removal systems
18.Mixer/Grinder
19.Air Circulation and lighting
20.Laboratory equipments
21.Water cleaning system
22.Pest Control system/equipments
23.Fire extinguisher
24.Item/work related/necessary for Organic Certification
25.Building and related civil works
26.Non conventional energy equipment
27.Any other item as approved by the Inspection Committee
APPLICATION
The individual cashew processors-exporter who desires to avail of the financial assistance has to submit the application in the prescribed form (Annexure1) . On receipt of the application, the Council, after preliminary scrutiny shall place the same before the Committee of Administration of the Council. Proposals involving civil works, Buildings, etc, should be accompanied by an essentiality certificate (Annexure - I-a) from a Chartered Engineer with drawings & estimate of expenditure, duly certified by the Chartered Engineer.
The Committee shall examine the proposal, and if found acceptable, approve it. The Committee may recommend modification in the scheme if found necessary. The Council will communicate the approval of the Committee to the applicant. The expenses incurred after issue of Council’s approval will only qualify for grant-in-aid.
Release of Grant-in-aid
On completion of the project, the applicant is required to submit to the Council the claim in the prescribed format (Annexure II) after which, an inspection of the unit will be arranged with the approval of the Dpt. Of Commerce, Govt. of India. The date of inspection will be intimated to the applicant who shall render necessary assistance to the inspection team to carry out the inspection / verification. All the equipments and machineries should be in working condition at the time of inspection. The inspection team will submit a detailed report after physical verification and examination of the implementation / functioning of the project. On the basis of the inspection report the Selection Committee will consider the release of eligible grant-in-aid to the beneficiary.
The beneficiary has to fulfill an export obligation to effect cashew / cashew product export of five times of the grant amount provided to the beneficiary after which only the grant will be released . The time allowed for fulfilling the export obligation is one year from the date of completion of the project. The release of grant before fulfillment of export obligation will be considered subject to production of a Bank Guarantee for an equivalent amount until the exporter fulfills the export obligation. If the export obligation is not achieved, the entire grant has to be refunded to the Council with interest at commercial lending rates of nationalised banks from the date of disbursement of grant.
Instructions / Guidelines
1.The claim form (Annexure – II) shall be submitted to the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India along with the following supporting documents/details
a.Statement of expenditure in the claim form to be signed by the applicant as well as the Chartered Accountant.
b.In case of civil works/building construction, the statement of expenditure should be signed by the Chartered Engineer who has given the essentiality certificate, building plan etc. as well as a Chartered Accountant.
c.Legible photocopies of Bills and Receipts certified by the Chartered Accountant. Bills should clearly show the value specifically for each eligible item.
d.Certificate of completion duly signed by the applicant.(Annexure II-a)
e.Self attested photocopies of ISO / HACCP/Organic certificate wherever applicable
f.Certificate by the applicant to the effect that no subsidy has been claimed or will be claimed for these expenditures from Government funds through any other Governmental bodies. (Annexure II-b).
g.Beneficiary exporter will be required to remit 2% of the approved grant amount (to meet scheme implementation costs) and Rs. 3000/-per factory towards the inspection charges for the civil works before release of grant amount.
2.The claim, complete in all respects should be received in the office of the CEPCI within one month from the date of completion of the project.
3.Any other details/clarifications on the project that are considered necessary for allowing grant-in-aid shall be furnished by the applicant, as & when called for by the Council.
4.If considered necessary, the applicant may be required to be present before the Committee of Administration and the Selection Committee for clarifications, if any, with respect to the project for which the grant-in-aid is applied for.
5.The grant amount will be released only after the completion of the projectand approval of the Selection Committee, subject to norms and availability of funds from the Govt. of India.
In case of any dispute, the decision of the Selection Committee shall be final.
