Even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, leather, textile and glassware products were exported to different parts of the world. Today, there is huge demand for a wide range of products of Uttar Pradesh abroad. There are niche markets for certain products of UP in different countries.
Now to promote exports further, the State Government has decided to set up Overseas Trade Promotion and Facilitation Centres in all the 75 districts of the state. The MSME Department plans to set up a centralised facilitation centre also for better coordination among centres. The Government believes that the centres will increase the worth of exports by at least Rs 400 crore. It will also provide employment opportunities to about 4,000 people.
Uttar Pradesh ranks sixth among the major exporting states of the country, the Central Government’s latest data reveals. UP ranks after Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Uttar Pradesh is ahead of many states including among others Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Orissa, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
This year, a lot of goods like carpets, rugs, textile fabric, oven fabric, man-made staple fabric, footwear, glassware, iron, steel, aluminum, rice, sugar, milk, flour, plastic products, silk, artificial flowers have been exported to different parts of the world. Nepal, Bangladesh and countries of South East Asia imported a large number of ODOP products from UP during the pandemic.
Footwear and toys exports shot up from Rs 147.04 crore and Rs 26.19 crore in April-May last year to Rs 742.47 crore and Rs 120.83 crore respectively this year. Similarly, glassware exports increased from Rs 39.99 crore during the same period last year to Rs 310.77 crore this year.
Furthermore, carpets and textile fabrics worth Rs 744.15 crore were exported this year as against Rs 247.63 crore last year. The export of leather products also saw massive increase from Rs 79.21 crore last year to Rs 493.80 crore this year.
The State Government got a lot of orders from abroad also for products like rice, medicines, silk, fertilisers, fish products and sugar. The proposed Overseas Trade Promotion and Facilitation Centres are expected to increase value of exports from 25 districts known as export centres of the state by Rs 250 crore, providing direct and indirect employment to 2,500 people.
Besides, there will be an additional export of goods worth Rs 125 crore from 25 less important districts in terms of export with the coming up of these centres. The centres will provide employment to 1,250 people. The worth of exports from the remaining districts will go up by Rs 25 crore while the centres will provide employment to 250 persons.
There has been an unprecedented rise in exports from Uttar Pradesh in the current financial year, thanks to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s efforts to boost the industrial sector in the state and to push the ‘Make in India’ initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last four and a half years. According to the latest data released by the Central Government on exports from various states official data, UP exported goods worth Rs 21,500.85 crore in April and May this year, up 152.67 percent compared to the previous year. During the corresponding period last year, goods worth Rs 8,511.34 crore were exported from the state.
