Aatmanirbhar Gujarat: ₹5L Assistance for MSMEs Listing on SME Exchange — Frequently Asked Questions

The scheme reimburses 25% of the total expenditure the enterprise incurred while raising equity capital through an SME Exchange, and the reimbursement cannot exceed ₹5,00,000 (Rupees Five Lakh). If the eligible expenses work out to more than that, the balance stays with the company.

The applicant must be a micro, small or medium enterprise that has actually raised equity capital by listing on a recognised SME Exchange. It must also hold a valid Udyam Registration from the Ministry of MSME or DPIIT Startup India Recognition, whichever applies to it, and the application must be filed within one year of the listing date. The scheme itself is a Government of Gujarat initiative.

Yes, one of the two is required. The eligibility conditions call for a valid acknowledgment or registration from either the Ministry of MSME (Udyam Registration) or the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT Startup India Recognition), as applicable to the enterprise.

It covers costs incurred in the course of raising funds through an SME Exchange — typically merchant banking charges, legal and compliance expenses, audit fees, registrar services and exchange listing fees. The claim is supported by invoices and proofs of those payments.

No. This is a subsidy, not an investment. The department reimburses a portion of your listing costs and takes no equity or stake in return, so the support is non-dilutive apart from the shares that were already issued as part of the listing itself.

There is no fixed annual deadline — applications run on a rolling basis. The deadline that matters is relative to your listing: the application has to be submitted within one year of the date your enterprise listed on the SME Exchange. The parent Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Scheme for MSMEs itself stays in force until October 4, 2027.

Applications are filed online on the Investor Facilitation Portal (IFP) at https://ifp.gujarat.gov.in/DIGIGOV/. You begin with a New Investor Registration and fill in all the mandatory fields, submit it, and then click the verification link sent to your email. Once verified, log in with your email and password, open the section for this scheme, enter your business details along with the capital raised and the expenses incurred, upload the mandatory documents, review everything and submit. Keep copies of all documents and the application reference number.

The portal carries a document checklist that sets out the exact list. In general, applicants submit proof of Udyam or DPIIT registration, evidence of the listing on the SME Exchange, details of the capital raised, and invoices or proofs for the expenditure being claimed as reimbursement.

Assessment is a verification exercise rather than a competition. The department confirms that the enterprise meets every condition — valid MSME or DPIIT registration, a completed listing on a recognised SME Exchange, expenditure of a kind the scheme allows, and submission inside the one-year window. Applications that clear these checks receive the stated financial assistance.

It is a dedicated trading platform within a major stock exchange, such as the NSE or the BSE, that lets small and medium enterprises raise capital from the public. Its listing requirements are simpler and less stringent than those of the main board, which makes going public and getting noticed by investors more achievable for a growing business.

Aatmanirbhar Gujarat: ₹5L Assistance for MSMEs Listing on SME Exchange is offered by Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat, a government body. It is provided as non-dilutive funding.