Govt revises guidelines of International Cooperation Scheme

Government has further revised guidelines of the International Cooperation Scheme, which were last modified in June, and permitted Ministry of MSME or organisations under it to seek financial assistance to hold global exhibitions, seminars and workshops in India.
For international conferences or seminars or workshops in India organised by the Ministry or organisations under it, the Administrative Wing of the ministry would seek the approval for the budget from the MSME Minister after consulting the Integrated Finance Wing (IFW).
Assistance is provided under the scheme to the eligible applicant organisations for visit and participation in international exhibitions, trade fairs and buyer-seller meets held in foreign countries in order to showcase Indian technologies, expose Indian MSMEs to the latest foreign technologies, access international buyers and sellers and forge business alliances.

The revised guidelines have also dropped the norm that name of the persons proposed to travel in the MSME delegation should not be changed after the application is filed.
As per the June notification of guidelines, "once the proposal is approved by the Ministry, the applicant organisation can shorten the delegation as per their requirement but additional participants would not be eligible for any claim".