NO ZEST FOR ZED

A government initiative to green MSMEs is not finding enough takers

- Aditi Ray Chowdhury

Roughly 17km west of Kolkata lies a factory that makes air springs, a component used in the suspension systems of cars. The factory is owned and run by Gibraltar Airsprings, a mid-sized company named after the city on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula.

This company has been rigorous about obtaining the latest certifications in manufacturing quality for the past two decades. A large chunk of its business comes from exports. And as such, it wants to stay on top of the requirements of ever-altering regulation.

Over the years, the company has obtained several International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certifications. More recently, it obtained an environmental, social and governance (ESG) certificate. In 2022, a few quality experts asked the company to obtain a zero effect zero defect (ZED) certificate to show its compliance on 20 sustainability parameters—including leadership, quality management and environment management.

Gibraltar Airsprings returned with gold—the highest certification status—meeting all 20 parameters of the ZED scheme within days. But the success Gibraltar has had is rare and does not do much in the way of the government’s efforts to make micro-, small- and medium-enterprises (MSMEs) environmentally sustainable in the long run. “The ZED certification seems to be a good start in terms of adopting sustainable practices among small and new enterprises but for a company like Gibraltar, which already has ESG certifications, it adds nothing,” says Arpan Basu, director of marketing and product development at Gibraltar Airsprings.