The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector in Uttar Pradesh has achieved the target of credit disbursement ahead of time and so far Rs 61,977 crore as loans has been disbursed despite trying times of covid-19 pandemic.
The MSME sector in UP, which has achieved a hundred per cent target in distributing loans to its units, is also generating a substantial number of employment under the Mission Rojgar.
Loans worth about Rs 62,000 crore have been distributed to the MSME units of the state during the period from April 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, not only achieving the target three months ahead of time but surpassing many sectors in the process.
Buoyed by the achievement, the target has been revised upward to Rs 76,000 crore for the current fiscal, Additional Chief Secretary (MSME) Navneet Sehgal said here on Tuesday.
He presided over a meeting of Convener State Level Banking Committee (SLBC) to review the progress in this regard.
"The credits to MSME units helped them continue with their activities even during the trying times of COVID-19 and generated additional employment of 30 lakh," Sehgal said, and added, "By the end of the current financial year, the total employment through MSME units is likely to cross the 80 lakh-mark."
The MSME sector comprises about 90 lakh units and UP accounts for about 14 per cent of the MSME units in the country. The UP government has consistently projected MSME as the growth engine of the economy of the state in terms of industrial activity and generation of employment. It has been reaffirmed in the Union budget also in which the sector has been given further boost in the proposals.
The Yogi Adityanath government has put due emphasis on the MSME sector and one component of it, the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme, has already been a success story. In this regard, the state government has recently launched the Udyam Sarathi app which has provided a platform to entrepreneurs to get all information about self-employment and related activities to set up their businesses. Through this app, prepared under the ODOP scheme and considered to be a master key for exploring self-employment opportunities to the youth, the MSMEs would easily be able to get a varied range of business opportunities in different departments and sectors of the state and the Central government.