Lucknow, Aug 9 (UNI) President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the three-day long MSME summit for promoting the `One district One Product’ (ODOP) scheme here on Friday.

The summit to boost micro, small and medium enterprises would be corollary to the UP investor’s summit held here on February. The ODOP designed to promote traditional industries and spur local economy.
The ODOP scheme seeks international branding was launched on January 25 this year.

President Ram Nath Kovind would reach here on Friday morning at 0930 hours and after staying for around six hours and inaugurating the ODOP summit at the Indira Gandhi Prathisthan at around 1100 hours will leave for New Delhi at 1530 hours.

Officials said here on Thursday that President would stay at Rajbhavan after arriving from New Delhi in the morning, will return to Rajbhavan and have his lunch before leaving for New Delhi. During his stay at the Rajbhawan, the President is expected to meet several eminent persons of the state capital along with senior BJP leaders.

MSME and Khandi and Village Industries minister Satyadeo Pachauri said here on Thursday that the President will distribute the loan sanction papers worth Rs 500 crore to around 10,000 beneficiaries of the ODOP scheme besides will hand over kits and tools to 78 artisans.

Of the artisans, 26 each would be from Gorakhpur, who will get electric pottery wheel, 26 from Moradabad who will get metal craft and 26 of Agra will get marbel inlay.

During the day, two MoUs would be signed with US based companies one with Amazon and another with Ge Health Care. However on the second day, another MoU will be signed with US based Boeing company, who will set up a skill training center in Aligarh.

While, Amazon will train the artisans and small entrepreneurs of several districts including, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Ferozabad, Moradabad, Agra, Kanpur, Meerut, Bhadoi and Varanasi to get their products listed on the Amazon marketing platform. GE Health Care will set up two skill training centers, at Meerut Medical College hospital and at the King George Medical University(KGMU) with a cost of Rs 1.6 crores.

Mr Pachauri said the minister in charge of each district will also distribute loans to the beneficiaries of the scheme.
The minister said that the beneficiaries of the ODOP scheme from Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Moradabad, Agra and Kanpur will also share their experience with the President. He said arrangements are being made for the live telecast of the inauguration programme across the state to be held here at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan.
He said the president will also inaugurate the three day exhibition where one product of each district will be put on display.

Mr Pachauri said that eight technical sessions would he organized during the summit on the subjects like handloom, textiles craft, tourism, agro and food processing, credit and finance, adding that the ODOP summit is the first of its kind by any state government in the country which is expected to give a big boost to the MSME and handicrafts in the state.

" The summit aims at propelling ODOP scheme on a big scale for international branding and marketing of the theme. The ODOP seeks to promote traditional industries synonymous with the respective districts of UP to spur local economy and create jobs. The aim of the ODOP is optimising the production, productivity and income, preservation and development of local crafts/skills and promotion of the art and improvement in product quality and skill development," the minister said.

MSME sector is the backbone of UP’s industrial landscape and contributes 60 per cent to its annual industrial output. It employs around 4 crore people, generating direct economic activity worth Rs 1.2 Lakh crore annually. The state is home to over 50 Lakh MSMEs and the sector is the second largest employer after agriculture, making it imperative for any development roadmap, especially in the backdrop of the government targeting to generate 20 Lakh jobs in the next 4 years.

The MSME department is also pursuing investment proposals received at the Investors Summit in February, so that they translate on the ground soon. The MSME sector had netted investment proposals worth over Rs 60,000 crore , although aggregate commitments to the sector was much higher, considering a number of MSME proposals were clubbed under different heads, such as food processing, services etc. In all, investment commitments of Rs 4.68 Lakh crore were signed during the UP Investors summit.

UP is uniquely famous for product specific traditional industrial hubs across 75 districts viz. Varanasi (Banarasi silk sari), Bhadohi (carpet), Lucknow (chikan), Kanpur (leather goods), Agra (leather footwear), Aligarh (lock), Moradabad (brassware), Meerut (sports goods) and Saharanpur (wooden products).
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