CM Yogi has a roadmap for MSMEs: A loan fest followed by online handicrafts exhibition

Yogi Adityanath govt will hold an online exhibition in June that will promote local goods such as Bhadohi carpets, Lucknow chikan work, Banarasi sarees.

A factory in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh | Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg

Lucknow: Faced with an unprecedented decline in revenues due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is making an all-out effort to promote Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).  

The state is banking on the MSME sector to revive its revenue while also providing employment to lakhs of returning migrant workers.  

The Adityanath government has already taken the first step by relaxing labour laws for businesses in the MSME sector and has followed it up with an online loan fest, which it launched Thursday and which will run until 20 May. The loans are being disbursed through the state’s MSME portal and according to the government, it has already handed out Rs 2,000 crore to 56,754 entrepreneurs.

As part of its next step, the UP government has decided to organise an online exhibition as part of  the ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) scheme from 25 June.

MSME principal secretary Navneet Sehgal, in a press statement, said that the UP ODOP cell and the Handicraft Export Council will jointly hold online exhibitions from 25 June to showcase 57 ODOP products.

“Traditional craftsmanship of UP will be showcased all over the world with the help of this exhibition. This will work towards boosting the export of these products as well as creating new employment opportunities,” he said. 

According to sources in the MSME department, the 57 products will include Bhadohi carpets, Lucknow chikan work, Banarasi sarees and brass utensils from Moradabad among others. 

‘A first-of-its-kind exhibition’

Sehgal said he has already held meetings with the representatives of the Handicraft Export Council and that the exhibition is the first of its kind in the country.

“It will help in getting some extra orders to increase exports of cottage industries and traditional artisans most affected by the Corona epidemic,” he said, adding that export of MSME products had increased by 28 per cent last year but the government hopes to boost that by another 10 per cent.  

UP MSME minister Siddartha Nath Singh told ThePrint that investors from all over the world are eager to invest in this sector.

“All of them see a big scope in UP. All kinds of efforts, including loan fairs, exhibitions, are being made to promote the MSME sector,” he said. “Every district here has some kind of unique or famous product. They just need better marketing and platforms.”

Sources said the primary objective of the exhibition is to connect the ODOP project with technology and also to promote the Make in UP scheme. One official said that Lucknow’s chikan work and Meerut’s brass craft already enjoy a lot of branding across the globe, but now the government’s aim is to start online orders for Farrukhabad bangles, Kannauj perfumes and Bareilly wooden work.