Now, Yogi Adityanath promotes UP as exports hub to create millions of jobs

New industrial policy to spur manufacturing sector

To boost industrial development and create million of jobs, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has started the spadework to developing the state as an exports hub.

The state would incentivise export oriented units by providing marketing assistance, subsidy on export cargo sent by air and subsidy on freight charges on gateway port.

Besides, UP would boost the manufacturing sector in a big way to accelerate economic activities in all the sectors of the economy.

According to the draft ‘Industrial Investment and Employment Promotion Policy of UP 2017’, the state intends to create facilitating infrastructure like multi-modal logistics hubs, specialised industrial zones viz. Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and State Investment and Manufacturing Zones (SIMZ).

The policy aims at integrating ‘Make in UP’ with the broader ‘Make in India’ theme to benefit from the central government sops and schemes. The fact that both the Centre and UP are ruled by the same political formation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would only create better synergies between the two dispensations.

The Yogi regime favours optimal utilisation of the central government to encourage export and related activities. The state has realised that exports greatly influenced economic growth, employment and balance of payments and thus the new policy would promote exports in line with ‘Make in India’ programme.

The draft policy is now in public domain for suggestions, before it goes to the state cabinet for approval.

On April 4, the Yogi cabinet had constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to draft a new industrial policy. The GoM was headed by deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and comprised other senior ministers, including Rajesh Agarwal, SatishMahana, Gopal Das Nandi and Srikant Sharma.

Over the past two months, the GoM had studied the industrial policies of other states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, besides taking feedback from industry. A few days back, the GoM had also given a presentation before Yogi, who had directed for a little tweaking in the draft to make it more investment friendly.

Global environment

The state government would also take measures to insulate UP from domestic and global environments, which could adversely impact its economy.

The draft policy states the world today is highly unpredictable and dynamic, wherein various disruptions, competitions and changing preferences posed both positive and negative impacts. Thus, the policy intends to place a framework to gain from these crosswinds as well be responsive.

The government would align its priorities and focus areas with the national and international trends and strive towards maximising benefits from bilateral and multi-lateral trade agreements made by the Centre.

It would also ensure maximum utilisation of the central funds to develop and upgrade the industrial and economic infrastructure.

Over the last few weeks, Yogi has met representatives of industry and foreign governments, discussing topics of investment and mutual cooperation in varied fields.

On June 6, a US-India Business Council (USIBC) delegation had met Yogi and expressed the desire to facilitate investment in the state by its members. Led by Mukesh Aaghi, USIBC evinced interest to cooperating in education, healthcare, medical devices manufacturing like stents, food processing, potable water techniques, technology, tourism etc.

On June 7, Assocham president and Monet Inpat and Energy Limited CMD Sandeep Jajodia had also met Yogi.

Besides, ambassadors of France, Japan, Israel and Belgium have met Yogi and discussed ways to accelerate cooperation in development fields, including agriculture, which is the mainstay of the UP economy.

On June 9, French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler had met Yogi and said his country was bullish on UP for prospective investment opportunities. On May 30, Belgian Ambassador Jan Luykx had met Yogi, who solicited cooperation to help UP in cleaning river Ganga before 2019 Ardh Kumbh, besides Smart City project.

On May 16, Israel Ambassador Daniel Carmon held a meeting with Yogi, who expressed keenness to utilising its expertise in power, horticulture, irrigation, science and technology, agriculture and smart city project.

On May 12, Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu met Yogi and the two stressed on furthering the Indo-Japanese bond for the development of UP.