FM Nirmala Sitharaman exhorts banks on 'one district, one product' agenda

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 25 urged banks to work with all state governments to push the ‘one district, one product’ agenda. Sitharaman said banks need to have more interactions with export promotion agencies, chambers of commerce and industry to understand and address the requirement of exporters on a timely manner. She said that between public sector banks, there should be some kind of a simple approach so that exporters are not made to run between one bank to another scouting for a better offer.

“Banks can play a crucial role by hand-holding industries from a particular sector to enable them to become an exporter and thereby play an important role in assisting the one district one product scheme suggested by Prime Minister,” Sitharaman said.

What is ‘One District One Product’ agenda?

The government has been proposing One District One Product (ODOP) initiative in several sectors. It was earlier taken up by the Ministry of Commerce for the exports sector as well. The government looks at the initiative as a transformational step forward towards realizing the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generate employment and rural entrepreneurship, taking us to the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The current step, if implemented, can make it easier for exporters to avail financial services thereby boosting exports.