CFC in all 75 districts of UP to promote One District One Product

For promoting the efficiency and productivity in micro and small industries covered under the One District One Product (ODOP), the Uttar Pradesh government has has decided to set up Common Facility Centers (CFC) in each of 75 districts of the state.

''Though the ODOP was launched earlier this year, there was no specific scheme for addressing the issues of the micro and small entrepreneurs covered by the ODOP. They were covered by the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and bigger units used to corner the benefits of all the schemes of the MSME department. The CFC is ODOP targeted scheme and is likely to benefit the micro and small entrepreneurs,” said an official of the MSME department.

The state government has already made a provision of Rs 250 crore for the ODOP scheme in current fiscal 2018-19. The government is likely to seek supplementary grant of Rs 25 crore for the CFC in the first supplementary budget for the current fiscal to be tabled in the state assembly. The monsoon session of the UP assembly is commencing here from August 23.

Official sources said the CFC as per the local need of each district will provide different services to the artisans and entrepreneurs. The CFC will cater the services like raw material depot, test laboratories, new machines and packaging and designing. As per the plan, the CFC will be immensely useful for the entrepreneurs of small and micro units at very affordable cost.

The government will also assist the entrepreneurs in obtaining loans from the public sector banks and will also provide 25% of the project cost as margin money. The entrepreneurs will be eligible for 25% concession if they repay the loan to the banks as per schedule.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath government has accorded top priority to the MSME sector for boosting economic activities and creating self-employment opportunities. The UP government has set an ambitious target of exports worth Rs 1 lakh crore in 2018-19.

"We would also participate in major MSME trade fair across the globe during the current fiscal, including Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and Philippines," said the official. The official said the state would leverage the various central schemes, including Stand Up India, Startup India and MUDRA to turnaround the beleaguered traditional industries. There are plans to sew alliances with big shopping malls for the marketing of traditional product lines.

After coming to power in March 2017, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced to accord priority to the sector since it is the second largest job creator in UP after agriculture. The state currently has over five million MSMEs.

In January 2018, a month prior to holding high octane UP Investors Summit, the state had rolled out ODOP scheme to promote traditional crafts and industries in each of the 75 districts.