Eyeing trillion-dollar economy, UP to develop 75 districts as export hubs

In order to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2024, Uttar Pradesh has decided to develop all of its 75 districts as potential export hubs in the near future.

Putting the proposal in top gear, the state government has constituted 10 member district level export promotion committees headed by the each respective district magistrate or chief development commissioner.

“Now, these districts bodies will be asked to prepare their respective district export plan (DEP),” UP micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and export promotion principal secretary Navneet Sehgal said here.

Sehgal, who has recently been nominated as the state trade facilitation commissioner, said the decision to develop the 75 districts as potential export hubs was taken in light of an advisory given by the central government in this regard.

The district-level committee would include the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) nominee and district industries and entrepreneurship promotion centre deputy commissioner as co-chairman and convener, respectively. Besides, the panel would comprise members of the lead banker, apart from representatives of the various state and central government departments and agencies.

To implement the ambitious vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convert each district in India into an export hub, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman – in her Budget 2020-21 speech – said that each district should be developed as an export hub and that efforts of the central and the respective state governments were being synergised and institutional mechanisms created.

The union commerce and industry ministry through DGFT has already been engaging with states to initiate preparation and implementation of a DEP specific to each district through an institutional structure at the district level.

Besides, the DGFT is developing a portal to enable states to upload all information related to the products with export potential of every district. The preliminary exercise will include an assessment of a district to identify the current export profile and potential.

The key officers related to agriculture, horticulture, livestock, fisheries, handicrafts, handlooms and industry in the district, apart from the lead banker will work towards the participation of export promotion councils, quality and technical standards bodies, central government departments like MSME, heavy industry, revenue and textiles will be part of such meetings.

The products identified for the exports, from the 750 districts, include leather, sand and stone articles, spices, garments, wool, food products, ceramics, cement, silk, carpet, glass items, metal crafts, sports goods, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, auto parts, poultry products, vegetables, cut flowers, forest produce, bamboo products and scientific instruments.  

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath government is preparing an export policy to give an impetus to the MSME sector, which accounted for 80 per cent of the total exports of about Rs 1.14 trillion in 2018-19. The state had engaged the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to prepare the policy draft.