Close on the heels of the Union government’s Rs 3-lakh crore credit guarantee to reboot micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME), the Uttar Pradesh on Thursday launched an online loan portal for the MSME sector.
Loans up to Rs 2,002 crore were disbursed to 56,754 entrepreneurs, which is expected to provide an additional employment to more than two lakh people.
Uttar Pradesh, which has approximately 90 lakh MSMEs, is expected to be the largest beneficiary of the MSME package announced by the Centre.
The loan mela is aimed at hand-holding MSMEs by way of helping them to get loans from banks, get refunds from GST and get pending payments from government departments and PSUs.
Launching a dedicated portal for MSMEs by the name of ‘Sathi’, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said workers and labourers are the biggest strength and capital of Uttar Pradesh.
“We will utilise their labour and skills to make UP a manufacturing hub. This is the best opportunity for us to eradicate the stigma of migration,” he said and added that a record of the skill set of every labourer is being prepared so that those coming from other states can contribute to rebuilding of Uttar Pradesh.
“There is unlimited possibility of generating employment in the MSME sector”, the chief minister said, adding that ‘Sathi’ will help MSME units to take maximum benefit under government of India’s latest packages announced on Wednesday.
Stating that the MSME sector of Uttar Pradesh is the largest in India, the chief minister said that the products of many units in this sector are popular across the country and the world. “The only need is to give them opportunities,” he said, adding that there will be special focus on the ODOP (one district-one product) scheme.
“There are immense opportunities in the ODOP sector. Many products have already established themselves as a brand within the country. Such units will benefit from this economic package as the products of these districts will now be recognised and strengthened. This will also help in giving maximum employment at the local level through minimum capital. This will also boost the per capita income of the state,” he stated, adding that by making the local the new global, India can become self-reliant.
“The Sathi app is aimed at creating employment opportunities for unemployed including migrants by financing new micro and MSME units by the banks,” said an official, adding that in view of the current lockdown, the MSME department has put all its schemes such as ODOP, Mukhyamantri Yuva Swarojgar Yojana and Vishvkarma Shram Samman Yojana online so that migrants and others could apply online for training and self-employment schemes of the department.
