July 21, 2020:
- Gadkari asks Amazon to list products from rural India separately on their platform to promote them globally
- He also urged Amazon to help Indian MSMEs in better design and packaging
- While e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart have not disclosed volume of their imports, local traders’ body CAIT estimates it to be 70% of total sales in India
- Amazon India head said the retailer was committed to digitise 10 million MSMEs, enable 1 million incremental jobs, and drive $10 billion dollar in e-commerce exports by 2025
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) Nitin Gadkari has urged e-commerce giant Amazon to list products from rural India separately on their platform to promote them globally. He has also asked Amazon to help micro entrepreneurs in better design and packaging.
While he lauded the retailer’s move to onboard over 60,000 MSMEs on Amazon Global Selling, the Minister teased the company for selling imported items through its platform.
“I am not asking you a question about what are the imports coming to India. I will request you as an Indian company, because (of) your presence in India, let’s find out what is to be import substitute which is coming from abroad here in India. The same thing (products) if it is possible to get with low cost and better quality. That can also be a good initiative,” Gadkari said in a lighter vein.
While e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart have not disclosed the volume of their imports, local traders’ body Confederation of Indian Industry (CAIT) has estimated the share of imported items (mainly from China) sold on these popular e-commerce platforms is 70%.
Gadkari noted the high potential of Indian handicraft and handloom sector and urged Amazon to help local industry with better design and packaging to take local products to global stage.
“I know that your role is related to marketing. I will only request you to find out solution for the MSMEs with your international exposure like if you can plan product design, giving new visions to the entrepreneurs about global choices,” he said.
Gadkari said that khadi and village industries’ turnover is currently Rs 88,000 crore and the idea is to take it to Rs 5 lakh crore within 2 years.
Referring to a meeting with social entrepreneur, banker and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, Gadkari said that providing finances to small entrepreneurs could boost economy and jobs.
“A lot of IIT people were there (at the meeting). Now we are planning for social micro finance. I am going to request Niti Aayog, and IIT to come into it and make a proposal (as to how social micro finance could be started). …. RBI will give them license. They will finance only to the extent of Rs 5-10 lakhs. The social micro finance institutions will provide finance to small entrepreneurs,” he said while launching Amazon’s 3rd edition of Exports Digest.
The Digest provides business insights and seller success stories of Amazon Global Selling Program.
Speaking at the event to launch of the Digest, Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Country Head of Amazon India said, “We remain committed to digitise 10 million MSMEs, enable 1 million incremental jobs, and drive $10 billion dollar in e-commerce exports by 2025.”
Source: Business Today
