Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh – September 2, 2026
The Uttar Pradesh Department of MSME and Export Promotion signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the German Indian Business Alliance (GIBA) at the Invest UP office, launching the Indo-German Gateway Programme to help the state’s MSMEs and startups access German and wider European Union markets. The cooperation is structured as non-financial, non-binding and non-exclusive.
The MoU follows an earlier agreement exchanged between Invest UP and GIBA in Frankfurt on February 23, 2026. A high-level German delegation from GIBA and Innovation Hub RheinMain visited Lucknow to review implementation and separately held a courtesy meeting with UP MSME Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary to discuss trade, investment and technology cooperation.
Programme Structure
The Indo-German Gateway will initially support a pilot cohort of 12 to 20 enterprises, selected based on export readiness, European market potential, financial capacity, management commitment and regulatory preparedness. The programme is structured as a 12-month pathway covering five stages: enterprise assessment, pre-entry market preparation, product and business-model validation in the German market, market establishment, and post-entry support. The initiative will focus on exports, technology partnerships, investment, supply-chain integration and skilled employment and is expected to draw on opportunities from the India-EU Free Trade Agreement alongside existing state programmes, including One District One Product (ODOP), the MSME Policy 2022 and Market Development Assistance.
Statements
Principal Secretary for MSME and Export Promotion Shashi Bhushan Lal said 2026 is a historic year for India-Germany relations, marking 75 years of diplomatic ties and 25 years of strategic partnership between the two countries. He noted that more than 2,000 German companies currently operate in India and that Uttar Pradesh has a strong base of manufacturing units and export-ready MSMEs with significant potential for expansion into European markets.
Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said Uttar Pradesh is moving toward becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy, noting that around 14% of India’s total MSMEs are based in the state, with approximately one crore MSME units currently operating there. He said MSMEs are the state’s largest employment-generating sector after agriculture.
Trade Context
According to figures cited at the meeting, bilateral trade between India and Germany stands at approximately $31.01 billion. Germany accounts for approximately 19.8% of Uttar Pradesh’s total exports to the European Union, with the state exporting more than $404.20 million annually to Germany, led by readymade garments, leather products, footwear, carpets and auto components. Uttar Pradesh’s total exports have crossed approximately €18.2 billion (roughly ₹2 lakh crore), making it India’s fifth-largest exporting state.