Despite lockdown impact, UP govt hopeful of growth momentum in export revenue

“In May, our export units reopened. We are working towards new ways to promote exports from the state. We will be holding a virtual exhibition in September where people from across the world can see our products and buy them. There are other things too which we are doing. The data for May, June and July has still not come. It will be out soon, and we think it will be good,” Additional Chief Secretary (MSME and Export Promotion) Navneet Sehgal told The Indian Express.

In the last five years, Uttar Pradesh saw its export gradually increase from Rs 81,218 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1,20,356 crore in 2019-20 – a jump of 48 per cent – with the highest increase in 2018-19. (See box)

Sehgal attributed the increase in the exports to “One District One Product” (ODOP) scheme that was launched by the state government in 2018.

“If you see the data, you can see that a substantial increase in the export happened after 2018. Around 80 per cent of products that have been exported from the state are from the ODOP category. We have made new policies, given new incentives to these products and hence, the exports have increased in the last three years,” Sehgal said, adding that the success of the ODOP scheme in the state has led to the Centre to take note of it and emulate in other states.

According to the MSME and Export Promotion Department, exports through ODOP scheme increased from Rs 55,008 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 65,982 crore in 2018-19.

Among the OPOP products that saw the highest jump in terms of export was in food products like kala namak rice, jaggery, banana, desi ghee, hing, pulses, aamla from Siddharthnagar, Ayodhya, Muzaffarnagar, Kaushambi, Auraiya, Hathras, Balrampur, Gonda, and Pratapgarh districts. These products saw a 75 per cent jump in their export in 2018-19 vis-a-vis 2017-18 – from Rs 2,067 crore to Rs 3,620 crore.

A senior official explained that the though the idea of ODOP is to have one district with one product as its priority, there are several adjoining districts that also produce the same good, especially when it comes to food products, and therefore products are grouped in broader categories encompassing more than one district.

Other products that saw a considerable rise in exports in the last few years are stone craft from Mahoba and Banda with a 42 per cent increase – from Rs 511 crore (2017-18) to Rs 727 crore (2018-19). Handmade paper art products from Jalaun district saw a 72 per cent increase in the same period, with the exports valued at Rs 879 crore in 2018-19.

Garments, silk sarees, chikankari and zari zardozi saw an increase of 18 per cent in the same period — from Rs 11,657 crore (2017-18) to Rs 13,733 crore (2018-19).

This fiscal year, due to the lockdown, the exports in the ODOP category dropped to Rs 65,982 crore (estimated). In this period, food products, however, recorded an increase of 36 per cent jump as compared to last year and were pegged at Rs 4909 crore as compared to Rs 3620 crore in 2018-19.

According to the Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council, the products that constituted the highest share in the exports from the state in 2019-20 were electrical machinery and equipment, nearly 20 per cent of the total exports. The other products that constituted a substantial chunk in the export was meat and edible meat offal – at 11 per cent — followed by apparel and clothing accessories – 9 per cent of the total export — in 2019-20.

Among the top 10 export destination for products from Uttar Pradesh, the USA tops the list. Goods worth Rs 20,257 crore were exported to the USA in 2019-20, an increase of 5 per cent from 2018-19.

The UAE was second. Goods worth Rs 14,979 were exported to the middle east country in 2019-20 – an increase of 25 per cent.

Nepal and the United Kingdom take the third and fourth spots, respectively.