Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that One District One Product (ODOP) scheme was the basis of self-sufficiency of micro, small and medium scale industries as after agriculture, the traditional enterprises associated with ODOP had contributed the most to the economy of the state during the most challenging times of coronavirus pandemic.

"The MSME sector, including ODOP, are important tools of financial inclusion of the poor, farmers, women and youth of villages while making them self-reliant and empowered, " the chief minister said and added, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of increasing the economy of the country to 5 trillion US dollars by 2024, in which the contribution of UP has to be one trillion US dollars," he said.

  The chief minister was addressing the people present in the huge loan disbursing camp held at Mahant Digvijaynath Smriti Park (Numaish Grounds) located in the planetarium on Thursday evening. He said that through ODOP, MSMEs had guaranteed employment with less capital and its results had made a positive impact across the state.

In the last four years, the state government has provided employment to crores of people by providing loans to 50 lakh MSME units from banks. This has improved the economy of UP. Previously, where Uttar Pradesh's economy used to be at the fifth and sixth positions in the country, now it is at the second place. The per capita income has increased from Rs 45,000 to Rs 95,000.

Yogi said that migrants returning to the villages during the coronavirus period were earning their livelihood by joining local and traditional enterprises. He said the state government was also working to create jobs by creating MSME clusters. He also referred to the increased business of terracotta craftsmen and the profits they earned on Diwali.

The chief minister said that more than seven crore Jan Dhan accounts had been opened in the state, out of which 17.5 lakh were in Gorakhpur alone. He said due to this, people were getting the benefits of the government schemes without corruption and directly in their bank accounts.

The chief minister said that the CD ratio of banks in Uttar Pradesh had increased as compared to the previous regime. "Our goal is to take it to 75 per cent," he said.

During the programme, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, along with providing loan certificates to the beneficiaries of several districts, spoke to them and asked them to use the loan to strengthen themselves and others.

The chief minister also inspected ten stalls in the exhibition ground and encouraged the entrepreneurs and gave them tips on gathering information about the finished product and subsequent marketing.

Former Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Raj Pratap Shukla, Rajya Sabha member Jaiprakash Nishad, MLA Dr Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal, Baroda UP Bank President Devendra Pal and others were present in the programme.