UP to woo entrepreneurs for small industries

Uttar Pradesh government today directed small industries department mandarins to engage and woo national and international entrepreneurs for setting up units in the state.

The officials have been asked to open communication channels with entrepreneurs and apprise them of the various sops being offered by the state.

The department wants to boost the production and export level of the small industries sector in Uttar Pradesh.

During the current financial year, the state government has set a target of setting up 33,000 new small industries, investment of Rs 2,500 crore and providing employment to 1,30,000 persons in the sector.

State Small Industries Minister Chandradev Ram Yadav said, so far over 5,200 new units have been established in Uttar Pradesh, which is 15 per cent of the target for 2011-12.

Besides, investment to the tune of Rs 450 crore had come to the sector, while 28,500 people have been provided with jobs.

In a review meeting here, the minister asked officials to hold camps for issuing identity cards to handicraft artisans to enable the provision of easy bank loans to them. Pending cases of subsidy are being taken up on priority basis by the district industries centre.

Under cluster development, a special programme vehicle has been formed to start a modern dying house, work on which is underway.

The state has a large base of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) estimated at over three million, including both registered and unregistered. Proprietorship accounts for over 95 per cent of the MSME ownership pattern in the state.

Major MSME pockets in the state include Varanasi, Allahabad, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Ferozabad, Meerut, Bhadohi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Khurja, Aligarh and Mathura.

These are product-specific hubs. For instance, Varanasi is famous for banarasi sari, Agra and Kanpur for leather, Bhadohi for carpets, Moradabad for brassware, Lucknow for chikan and Aligarh for locks.