UP Assembly Forms MSME Group for Economic Growth

Lucknow, Aug 13 (PTI) A group of MLAs from 20 industrial centres in Uttar Pradesh have come together to form 'Friends of MSMEs In UP Assembly'.

BJP MLA from Lucknow Neeraj Bora is convenor of the newly founded group, an official statement issued here on Wednesday said.

The group is modelled on the lines of 'Friends of MSMEs in Parliament' at the Centre, which is proving very effective in resolving MSME issues leveraging Parliamentary institutions, it said.

The central group is headed by senior MP from Indore Shankar Lalwani and its national convenor is former MP from Meerut Rajendra Agrawal.


The meeting in Lucknow was held on Tuesday, a day before 24-hour marathon discussion in the UP assembly on economic growth of the state.

Speaking on the inaugural session of the group in UP, Rajendra Agrawal said, "The political will to effect rapid economic growth is palpable both in the state and the Centre. But to overcome the inertia in the system against change needs closer cooperation of political leadership and MSMEs."

"The powers of legislature to find systemic solutions of the problems small entrepreneurs face are highly under-utilised. We have seen how parliamentary system could be leveraged to bring ministries, constitutional bodies and MSMEs to the same table for resolving long pending MSME issues at the Centre," he added.

National MSME body -- Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) -- is to provide the secretariat support to the UP body as is being done to the central organisation of MPs.

Secretary General of FISME Anil Bhardwaj, who is also nominated by UP government as member of Economic Advisory Group, highlighted the need for mass scale formalisation of MSMEs in the state and enabling their growth and expansion.