Aligning itself to the central government’s aim of growing exports, the Uttar Pradesh government has set itself a extremely ambitious target of exporting goods worth Rs 3 lakh crore in the next 4 years from the present Rs 1.2 lakh crore, which is an boost of almost 250%.
Speaking to FE, Uttar Pradesh’s minister for MSME, Investment and Export Promotion Siddharth Nath Singh mentioned to money in the space that China has been forced to vacate due to geopolitical disturbances, the Uttar Pradesh government had roped in international consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and has ready an export approach for the state. While 17 important sectors have been mostly identified, in the initial phase, the concentrate would be on the major 5 priority merchandise that have export possible and excellent demand in the worldwide markets.
The identified sectors are electronics and electrical gear, apparel, machine and gear, processed meals products and organic chemical substances. The shortlisted priority merchandise at present contribute to about 63% of the exports from UP and account for about 5% of India’s exports.
“We decided to take the professional help of PwC to carve out a comprehensive export strategy for integrating UP with the global supply chain network, keeping in mind the current challenges and global opportunities. We have also tried to find product opportunities where China previously had a major global export share, the chain of which has now been disrupted owing to Covid,” he mentioned adding that UP has a industry presence in a lot of sectors.
“We need to work on our areas of expertise. In 2020-21, our exports were to the tune of Rs 1.20 lakh crore, which was a jump of over 28% over the previous year. We wish to take this up further to Rs 3 lakh crores in the next four years,” the minister mentioned, adding that the state government is working on linking many initiatives which includes the state’s flagship one district one solution (ODOP) scheme, which has not only rejuvenated endangered neighborhood arts and crafts but has also helped in securing the livelihood of millions of rural people today engaged in these activities.
“What is important is that the ODOP scheme has also helped boost the state’s exports. We are sure that the scheme will prove to be a gamechanger in our quest for reaching higher exports targets,” the minister mentioned.