Government identifies 1,244 ODOP products across 773 districts

MUMBAI: India’s next export success story could be hiding in a district you’ve never heard of. The Centre has identified 1,244 products across 773 districts under its One District One Product (ODOP) initiative, as it steps up efforts to transform local specialities into nationally and globally recognised brands.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is driving the ODOP programme to identify, brand and promote at least one product from every district, with product selection undertaken by the respective State and Union Territory governments.

To improve visibility and market access, the government has facilitated the participation of ODOP products in domestic and international exhibitions, organised capacity-building programmes and conducted e-commerce onboarding drives through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) ODOP Bazaar.

As part of the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI), the Centre is offering interest-free loans of up to Rs 200 crore to each eligible State and Union Territory with a legislature including Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry for setting up PM Ekta Malls (Unity Malls). The loans have a tenure of 50 years and are aimed at promoting the sale of ODOP, Geographical Indication (GI) and local handicraft products.

The Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme has also adopted the ODOP model in the food processing sector. The programme provides a 35 per cent credit-linked capital subsidy, capped at Rs 10 lakh per eligible project, along with seed capital for self-help group members, entrepreneurship development programmes, product-specific training, support for common infrastructure and incubation centres, and assistance for branding and marketing.

Under the branding component, eligible beneficiaries receive a 50 per cent grant for common branding, packaging, quality standardisation and food safety compliance.

The government clarified that no district-specific financial allocation is made under ODOP. Instead, States and Union Territories are encouraged to leverage existing central and state schemes covering MSMEs, food processing, agriculture, handicrafts, handlooms, skill development and exports to strengthen local value chains.

To boost exports, the PMFME scheme is converging with other central initiatives. The government has identified 24 common ODOP product clusters with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and seven fish and marine product clusters with the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) to improve branding, market access and export promotion.

The initiative also complements the government’s Districts as Export Hubs programme, under which export-potential products and services have been identified in 734 districts. State Export Promotion Committees (SEPCs) and District Export Promotion Committees (DEPCs) have been established across all 36 States and Union Territories, while 249 District Export Action Plans (DEAPs) have been adopted to strengthen the journey from production to exports.

On the digital commerce front, the government has launched a dedicated ODOP Storefront on GeM, where more than 500 ODOP product categories covering over 1,300 products are available for procurement. In addition, more than 10 States have developed dedicated e-commerce platforms to market and sell ODOP products.

Internationally, the Centre has collaborated with the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad to organise exhibitions and buyer-seller meets. ODOP Walls have been set up at Indian embassies to showcase products from different districts, while three international retail stores, two in Singapore and one in Kuwait, now retail ODOP products. The products have also been presented as official gifts during bilateral and multilateral meetings to enhance global visibility.

While the government said the initiative has strengthened market access, encouraged entrepreneurship and supported employment generation, it added that district-wise export data under the ODOP programme is not maintained centrally, underscoring that the focus remains on building long-term market ecosystems rather than tracking exports through a standalone mechanism.