Flipkart, an e-commerce giant, owned by Walmart, has launched an initiative that aimed at bringing India’s artisans, weavers, and handicrafts producers onto e-commerce platform. The initiative has been named as ‘Flipkart Samarth.’
The launch was done on Wednesday by Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, along with Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart in New Delhi.
“Through ‘Flipkart Samarth,’ we are helping traditionally underserved communities access a pan-India market and engage with over 150 million customers. The initiative will help us partner with the government and add impetus to various social empowerment schemes. ‘Flipkart Samarth’ will leverage increasing internet penetration in rural India to boost entrepreneurship and we are excited about the shared value we’re adding in ecosystem with this initiative, ” Krishnamurthy said.
Flipkart, owned by Walmart, is based out of Bengaluru, founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal together in 2007. The company initially focused on book sales, before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products.
While, Thakur said, “Our government has taken a host of measures in the recent budget and during the past few years to nurture the startup ecosystem, support the MSME sector and encourage e-commerce platforms. I am happy to see a slew of private players including Flipkart have come forward and bridge the gap between local artisans, technology and the marketplace. I firmly believe, that India has much more to offer the world, than what the world has offered to India and as an example ‘One District, One Product’ of UP and similar other initiatives of others states are an extension of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Bringing our local sellers, helping them build their brand and guiding them through the supply chain process will go a long way in building a robust E-Commerce ecosystem and the ‘Made in India’ brand.”
The new programe will work closely with reputed NGOs and government bodies and livelihood missions to reach a large number of rural entrepreneurs,
It will have a special focus on women-led enterprises, differently-abled entrepreneurs, artisans, and weavers, who often face obstacles such as lack of access to working capital, poor infrastructure, and inadequate training.