Amar Ujala MSME Conclave: Make in UP - The First Ever in Uttar Pradesh

Business Wire India
Amar Ujala organized the first ever MSME conclave- Make in UP in Lucknow and got both the Union Minister Shri Kalraj Mishra and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Akhilesh Yadav in one common platform to discuss and ideate way forward for this sector last Saturday.
 

Why “The MSME Conclave”

According to Executive Editor, Lucknow, Mr. Indu Shekar, Uttar Pradesh is home of maximum number of MSME units in India. It provided maximum employment as well as generates maximum output in terms of export. Around 8.75 lac is the number of registered units while experts believe that there must be around 36 lac units which are unregistered. These units contribute to 45% of total manufacturing and contribute to exports in huge numbers.  Brassware, perfumes, glassware, carpets are some of the items which gets exported from UP. Yet they are facing many challenges which act as big impediments in their path of progress.  He said these were the thought behind The Amar Ujala MSME conclave.

Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, Central minister Kalraj Mishra, Central government secretary for MSME ministry Dr. AK Pujari and Chief Secretary for UP Mr. Alok Ranjan also put forward their views and visions for the reforms and up-liftment in MSME sector in the state. 54 MSME entrepreneurs got recognition of excellence for their different kind of contribution in sectors which were evaluated by E & Y.
 
After the award giving ceremony the conclave had a surprise event “The Gazal Program by Ghulam Ali” for all the participants. It was attended by CM Akhilesh his wife and Member of Parliament Dimple Yadav and several top political and administrative officials. This event was kept under wraps and it was an unbelievable surprise for all the winners. 
 
The preparations
 
The preparations for MSME Conclave began two month ago with the interactive session and meeting with various MSME entrepreneurs from all of the Uttar Pradesh. During this process 17 sectors and clusters were taken into consideration. Their position, current status and challenges before them were analyzed and discussed with the government officials and political leaders.  A rigorous process to take up these challenges began with all three stakeholders.  Focus group meeting was held in 16 cities of Uttar Pradesh over a span of a month where all local leading MSME industrialists were called for a Hi tea meeting with the core editorial team to understand their issues.
 
A series of 14 full page editorial was done in all UP editions to create awareness and highlight the importance of these industries which are the backbone of UP.  A complete docket summarizing their issues was submitted to the Chief Minister. As part of final discussion a round of meeting was held between CM and the MSME entrepreneurs.
 
During the conclave the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and central minister for MSME sector Mr. Kalraj Mishra assured that they will work together with a vision to overcome the impediments before the sector.  They also announced a lot of policy changes as both of them were clear that without Make in UP there can be no make in India.

Conclusive ending
These efforts, handwork and time invested from all the stakeholders brought a very fruitful outcome for not only industrialists but also for the state and central government.
 
1. The State government declared:
 

• That state government will priority to the products manufactured by MSME sector in government purchases
• Value added tax (VAT) on plastic footwear is declared to be reduced to 9.5% from the current 14.5%. This was one of the major demand of footwear industry of UP
• For marketing at E-business, government of UP will design a portal with the top E-commerce websites so that MSME entrepreneurs can demonstrate their manufactured products at national and international level. Currently talks are being going on with few leading e commerce portals
• Institution like PICCUP and UPFC will be re-activated and they were once popular for providing loans but later their activities reduced
• Workshops will be organized with officers whose work profile is pertaining to the MSME entrepreneurs
• The meetings of Udyog -bandhu will be sternly monitored. Those Districts administrators and commissioners not taking part in these meetings will face departmental action. If the issues brought in Udyog-bandhu meeting are not being resolved in the meetings then they will be sent to state government for the solutions at state level
• New curriculum of skill development will be introduced in the ITI institutes of UP from the session 2016-17
• A policy for MSME industry will be brought within a month to encourage it
• A policy for pharmacy-industry and hotel management will also be brought
• Efforts will be made to curb the inspector-raj at ground level by making them more industry friendly and giving them status of mentors

 (As declared by CM of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and Chief Secretary Mr. Alok Ranjan.) 
2. The central government declared:
 

• There are 18 incubation centers are proposed in India for the training of inter-college and ITI passed students, out of them two will be established in UP
• He will talk to the finance and commerce department for the challenge of anti-dumping issue
• MSME units will no more be declared non-performing assets for the banks
• MSME credit guarantee fund will provide bank guarantee to MSME units in UP who are not being able to fetch loans from banks
• Central government will establish Doughy Bandhu to resolve the problems being faced by entrepreneurs in establishing units
• Newly established units will be served with notices from forest, environment and sales tax departments but there will be no rebates for them for initial three years of the establishment of units
• Reforms will be made to curb the 'inspector-raj'

(As declared by MSME minister Kalraj Mishra and the Secretary in central government for MSME ministry Dr. AK Pujari.)

Photo Caption: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Akhilesh Yadav and Union Minister Shri Kalraj Mishra at the Amar Ujala MSME Conclave 2015