Uttar Pradesh loans for traditional industries with high MBC, schedule caste workforce

NEW DELHI: Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, UP government is set to unveil its One District One Product (ODOP) scheme that aims at promoting one traditional industry in every district.

The ODOP summit, to be inaugurated in Lucknow on Friday by President Ram Nath Kovind, will see the state government offer Rs 1,000-crore soft loans to artisans, craftsmen and entrepreneurs. It’s mostly the most-backward castes (MBCs) and schedule castes (SCs) that are associated with traditional industries.

The loan sanction letters would be distributed under various schemes like MUDRA, PMEGS, Start-up, Stand-up and UP government’s Mukhya Mantri Swarojgar Yojana.


The ODOP project aims at promoting traditional businesses, such as lock industry in Aligarh, silk-weaving in Varanasi and biscuit-making in Amethi.

The state government is in touch with Amazon that will provide marketing support to traditional industries in nine districts, including Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow and Gorakhpur.

Sources in the UP government said the idea is to ensure international recognition of various products through e-commerce sites. The scheme targets to boost growth of small, medium and traditional industries.