Mou Signed For Lending & Payments
UP MSME and export promotion department tie-up with Paytm
By Virendra Singh Rawat
LUCKNOW, June 13 (The CONNECT) – With Uttar Pradesh targeting to double merchandise exports to Rs 3 trillion by 2027, the state government has tied up with Paytm to digitise the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) landscape.
The UP MSME and export promotion department has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Paytm parent company, One97 Communications Limited to offer digital payments and lending solutions to the state MSMEs.
Paytm is among India’s leading digital payments solutions company with more than 20 million merchants and businesses using its services.
Under the agreement, the state will share the UP MSMEs database with One97 Communications. It is expected to facilitate new business and trade opportunities for the MSMEs with special emphasis on the flagship one district one product (ODOP) scheme.
ODOP is aimed at reviving and fortifying the traditional and indigenous industries of the state across 75 districts.
Navneet Sehgal, Additional Chief Secretary, Information, MSME, Export Promotion, Khadi & Village Industry, tweeted about signing the MoU with Paytm.
According to a senior government official, Paytm would digitise the payments and book keeping matrices of the MSMEs while also providing a lending channel for working capital loans. The partnership is likely to groom the state entrepreneurs to face the increasing competition in the domestic and international markets in the current digital era.
Meanwhile, UP merchandise exports surged by 30 percent year-on-year from Rs 1.07 trillion in 2020-21 to more than Rs 1.40 trillion in 2021-22 financial year despite pandemic.
ODOP products contributed 72 percent to the shipments in 2021-22, according to UP additional chief secretary, MSME and export promotion, Navneet Sehgal.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to augment exports as well as to expand the sphere of employment and self-employment opportunities in the state,” he said.
Compared to the exports of Rs 88,967 crore in 2017-18, the UP’s exports have proliferated by nearly 58 percent to over Rs 1.40 trillion in less than five years.
The state government firmly believes that ODOP will play an important role in the ambitious goal of UP becoming a $one trillion economy by 2027.
