Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Saturday distributed loans worth Rs 50,000 crore to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) entrepreneurs on the eve of Vishwakarma Jayanti with this, Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to give loans to entrepreneurs on such a large scale in one go, the state government claimed. After distributing tool kits and loans to MSME entrepreneurs at a programme held at Lok Bhavan under the 'Vishwakarma Shram Samman scheme’, Adityanath in his address said the double-engine government aimed to make the youth, women, businessmen and entrepreneurs of the state self-reliant. In this direction, according to the state government, in the last six years, loans worth Rs 66,000 crore had been provided, of which Rs 16,000 crore was distributed to 1.9 lakh handicraftsmen, artisans and small entrepreneurs earlier and Rs 50,000 crore was disbursed Saturday. The chief minister said the new Uttar Pradesh of New India was being effectively implemented on the ground as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “In 2018, our government had started the 'One District One Product' (ODOP) scheme for the traditional enterprises of Uttar Pradesh, which was an innovative initiative. The objective behind the scheme was not only to provide a platform to the talented youth of the state but also to establish Uttar Pradesh as an excellent destination for investment, in which it was successful,” he said. The Chief Minister emphasised that PM Modi has recognised the ODOP scheme of Uttar Pradesh as the foundation to realise the goals of Local for Global and Self-reliant India goals. “Today, within no time, the ODOP scheme of UP has become the scheme of the entire country,” he said. Pointing out that no big enterprise or industry can be successful unless it has a good MSME cluster, CM said, “Uttar Pradesh is fortunate from this point of view as it has a huge base of MSME which has given a new identity to the state. This scheme has played a big role in employment generation and increasing exports in UP.” The chief minister said despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the credit and debit ratio of Uttar Pradesh increased by 10 to 11 per cent to 55-56 per cent in the past 5 to 6 years. “We will increase it to 60 to 62 per cent. We have to work further with this goal. For this, employment fairs will have to be organised on a large scale, training will have to be imparted and people will have to be connected with digital payments”, he said.
