Arvind Jayatilak, Writer
Even in the environment of global recession and war, the economy of Uttar Pradesh is on the rise. This is the first time that Uttar Pradesh’s exports have crossed Rs 2 lakh crore. According to the data of Federation of Indian Export Organization, Uttar Pradesh has exported Rs 2,01,241 crore in the financial year 2025-26. In the financial year 2024-25 it stood at Rs 1,86,059 crore.
This achievement has placed Uttar Pradesh in the list of top five exporting states of the country. If we look closely, the share of UP alone in the total exports from India is 5.2 percent. During this period, India has exported a total of Rs 39,04,000 crore. According to statistics, the maximum exports from Uttar Pradesh have been to America. After this it has been exported to UK, UAE, Germany and Nepal. Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) has the highest exports from Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 48 percent (Rs 97,703 crore). Similarly, exports worth Rs 18,728 crore have been made from Ghaziabad, Rs 10,823 crore from Kanpur Nagar and Rs 10,639 crore from Moradabad.
This achievement of Uttar Pradesh is more important in the sense that Uttar Pradesh is the only state among the top five exporting states of the country, which does not have a coastline. Despite being an agricultural state, UP has made a huge leap in the export sector. If we look closely, the basis of evaluation of functioning in an agricultural state is agriculture, condition of farmers and forestry as well as the state’s growth rate, law and order, industries, factories and social harmony. If we consider this criterion as the basis then the present government of UP is doing excellent work.
As soon as it assumed the reins of power in the year 2017, the government waived off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers in the first cabinet meeting. 2.15 crore farmers benefited from this decision. The government has brought happiness to the faces of sugarcane farmers by paying Rs 3.22 lakh crore in the last nine years. If you look closely, this is Rs 90 thousand crore more than the total payment made in 22 years from 1994 to 2016.
Due to successful agricultural policy, the total irrigated area in the state has reached 133 lakh hectares. Similarly, grain production has also increased by 20 percent. If we pay attention, the agriculture of Uttar Pradesh keeps getting ruined due to drought, floods and hailstorms. Keeping this in mind, the government has covered farmers with crop insurance scheme. Sharecroppers have also been brought under its ambit. The government has also ensured the payment of Rs 2,000 every fourth month to the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana. This has brought great relief to the farmers.
To strengthen agriculture, the government has made laws to protect cattle and closed illegal slaughterhouses. For the development of an agricultural state, along with the development of agriculture, it is necessary to develop industries and factories. In this direction, the government organized an Investors Summit in the state capital Lucknow in 2018. If we look at the figures, investment proposals worth Rs 50 lakh crore have come to the state in the last eight years. ‘Ease of doing’ business has given a new lease of life to industries and factories. In the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking, Uttar Pradesh was ranked 14th in 2017, which is at second position today.
The government implemented Industrial Investment and Employment Promotion Policy-2017 to promote industries in the state, which has resulted in tax exemptions and subsidies to investors and help in land allotment. The government has given impetus to 33 sectoral policies in the state, due to which Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a new comet of industrial development. Due to the concrete initiatives of the government, the defense corridor and medical pharma sector have gained wings. After Noida, a new industrial city in the form of Bida is being established in Bundelkhand, a drought-prone area of Uttar Pradesh.
The work of setting up drug and pharma is in full swing in Bundelkhand. The work of Defense Industrial Corridor is also going on in Bundelkhand, which will not only bring this region on the world map, but will also encourage the Make in India campaign. This corridor will be developed in six cities of Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi and Chitrakoot in about five thousand hectares. Yogi government has offered special concession to investors setting up defense related industries. The good thing is that more than five dozen companies have shown interest to invest in the Defense Industrial Corridor. Bundelkhand Expressway has been constructed for the development of Bundelkhand. (These are the personal views of the writer)
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