UP set up 346,000 new MSME units in 3 years; state aims to boost sector

MSMEs account for 80% of UP's exports at Rs 1.14 trillion

Uttar Pradesh has reported the setting up of more than 346,000 new micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the last three years.

Replying to a question in the UP legislative assembly yesterday, state industrial development minister Satish Mahana said 346,995 new units had come up in the state MSME sector since 2017.

Meanwhile, the MSMEs accounted for 80 per cent of UP’s exports worth Rs 1.14 trillion in 2018-19. The MSMEs generate nearly 60 per cent of the industrial output and ranks second after agriculture in highest employment generation in the state.

He further said of the 1,045 memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the public and private sector companies at the UP Investors Summit in February 2018, the production has already started in 90 projects.

In the aftermath of the Summit, which had garnered investment proposals of Rs 4.68 trillion to the state, the government had organised two ground breaking ceremonies to lay the foundation of projects totaling more than Rs 1.25 trillion.

According to Mahana, 28 more projects involving investment of Rs 55,000 crore were now in the pipeline, of which 13 projects had already received their respective clearances from all the concerned departments. These projects are also likely to be launched in the coming months.

He said the state was planning to host a Global Investors Summit in October-November 2020 to position UP as an ideal investment destination not only nationally, but internationally as well.

“We have planned to organise roadshows in India and foreign countries in run up to the Summit. The things would start moving once we get the required go ahead and dates from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO),” Mahana had recently told Business Standard.

The state government intends to launch roadshows from April-May this year, since it would take about six months to build a momentum for the mega event and zero in on the potential investors as well, he added. The roadshows would be organised in USA, the UK, Russia, UAE, the Netherlands, China, Canada, France etc.

Last month, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had termed the MSME sector as the backbone of industrial growth and promised the government could act as a catalyst by promoting clusters.

The state has implemented one district, once product (ODOP) scheme to boost the MSME sector by promoting the indigenous traditional industries and handicrafts of the state.

The CM claimed owing to the proactive policies, Moradabad and Bhadohi industrial hubs in UP had posted brassware and carport exports of Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 4,000 crore respectively last year.

Launched in 2018, the ODOP scheme is aimed at reviving UP’s indigenous industries through financial, marketing and training support with the help of banks, knowledge partners and private marketing entities, including ecommerce.