Uttar Pradesh will soon start getting whiffs of the best internationally branded perfumes from Grasse (France), known as the perfumery capital of the world. All thanks to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple, who is Samajwadi Party MP from Kannauj, renowned the world over for its "ittar" (a kind of perfume produced from flowers) and regarded as the perfume capital of India.Akhilesh, Dimple and a battery of top officers are leaving for France on Thursday to explore prospects of joint ventures in the field of perfumery. Two well-known perfumers from Kannauj are also part of the official delegation.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

"The idea is to promote the concept of Kannauj and Grasse as twin cities, with the perfumery industry being the binding factor," senior IAS officer Manoj Kumar Singh, MD, UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC), told dna. "We are looking forward to exchange of knowhow, industrial skills and marketing strategies to promote our perfumery industry," he said. "We want the perfumes of Kannauj to have international-level recognition and branding," he added.

Singh said that this would boost exports besides generating new business opportunities and employment. He said the chief minister was taking the delegation at the invitation of the Mayor of Grasse.

Official sources said that the entire exercise had been done at the initiative of Dimple Yadav. "She had been taking keen interest in promoting the local scents of Kannauj ever since she became the MP from this seat first in 2012," a senior official said. Akhilesh had vacated this seat on becoming UP CM.