Trillion-dollar economy target: UP govt framing new export policy

State partners with Federation of Indian Export Organisations for draft paper, may place it before cabinet for approval next month

Aiming to achieve the trillion-dollar economy mark by 2024, Uttar Pradesh is framing a new export policy to give impetus to its industrial sector, including start-ups.

The state has engaged the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to prepare the draft policy.

“We are hammering out a new export policy for the state, and it is likely to be presented before the state cabinet for approval next month,” UP MSME and Khadi principal secretary Navneet Sehgal told Business Standard in Lucknow this evening.

He said since the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector accounted for almost 80 per cent of the total exports of about Rs 1.14 trillion in 2018-19, the new export policy would by and large serve the interests of the sector, which contributes more than 60 per cent of the state’s industrial output.

The existing export policy is seen to be limited in scope, and does not cover the wide spectrum of contemporary goods and services segments that have emerged over the past few years.

The Adityanath government had earlier announced its maiden agricultural export policy on September 10, which is aimed at augmenting farm income and promoting the export of agro commodities.

The policy is projected to create an institutional mechanism for agro exports, promote export-oriented commodities and encourage the cultivation of environmentally-friendly farm varieties.

With the help of the new agro-export policy, the state hopes to double the value of farm commodity shipments over the next five years from $2,524 million or Rs 17,591 crore currently. It is setting up farmer producer organisations (FPO) towards this end.

The agro-export policy would promote cluster farming of export-oriented commodities over an area of at least 50 hectares by offering incentives. For example, the state would provide a subsidy of maximum Rs 10 lakh for clusters of 50-100 hectares during the five-year period, with 40 per cent to be provided in the first year itself.

Meanwhile, the Adityanath government today urged the Small industrial Development Bank of India (Sidbi) to increase credit flow to MSMEs under UP’s flagship one-district-one-product (ODOP) scheme, that seeks to promote indigenous industries and crafts.

The credit deposit (CD) ratio in UP currently stands at about 52 per cent compared to the national average of over 70 per cent, indicating low credit offtake.

Meanwhile, the state is poised to hit an MSME count of 14 million by 2021-22, up more than 50 per cent from nine million in 2017-18.

According to statistics released by the MSME export promotion council (MSME EPC) here recently, UP had posted 100 per cent growth in the MSME sector between 2015-16 and 2017-18 from about 4.4 million units to nine million.