Quality Council of India launches accreditation for business membership organisations

NEW DELHI: The Quality Council of India has launched accreditation standards for business membership organisations (BMOs) in line with global best practices to promote micro, small and medium enterprises.

BMOs refer to organisations with companies or individual entrepreneurs as members and include business associations, chambers of commerce, and so on.

The announcement comes soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clarion call to make India a global manufacturing hub with 'Zero Defect and Zero Effect' on his first Independence Day speech.

Accreditation initiative is aimed at encouraging BMOs to be an active partner in MSME promotion and build their capacity with transparent functioning, the Quality Council of India (QCI) said in a statement.

The council is targeting about 50 BMOs for this voluntary accreditation in the first year, of which German development institution GIZ is funding first 25 BMOs, it said.

QCI is a non-profit autonomous body set up with assistance from the government, operates national accreditation structure.

The accreditation certification will help BMOs find new clients or markets where the services can be rendered, it said.

An accredited BMO will draw interest from corporate, financial agencies and other institutions to act as an intermediary for reaching out to MSMEs on various issues, it added.