NEW DELHI, Aug. 14 -- The Indian government plans to include the service sector in a scheme earlier meant to make small manufacturing companies globally competitive and help them get easier access to capital, a top official said.

Work on the proposed inclusion of the service sector in the Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED) scheme comes in the backdrop of the passage of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill in Parliament this month.

Discussions are underway with the Quality Council of India (QCI), which implements the ZED scheme, and the National Productivity Council to determine the quality parameters for services to be included in the scheme, MSME secretary Bharat Khera said in an interview.

"We have a visio...