E-commerce major Amazon has signed an agreement with the Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS) to provide a market for products of women entrepreneurs and Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
This partnership is expected to benefit 30,000 women entrepreneurs whose products in the grocery, home decor, clothing and other categories would be made available to Amazon customers across India.
To begin with, 53 products have been uploaded on the Amazon marketplace. The plan is to expand this to 200 products before March 31, 2022. The agreement was inked in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Amazon India will not only launch KSRLPS, also known as Sanjeevini, on its marketplace, but also extend the benefits of its ‘Saheli’ programme to train and empower SHG women entrepreneurs to come online and access a market for their products.
The KSRLPS would set up a warehouse (Saheli Centre) in the Mysugar building to manage the operations, and later expand to district-level operations based on sales or demand.
“I want a success stories to come out of this,” Mr. Bommai told Amazon India vice-president (public policy) Chetan Krishnaswamy when the memorandum of understanding was signed.
Mr. Bommai said Karnataka’s per capita income represents 30% of citizens who are mostly salaried or business class. “Our vision is that at least half of the remaining 70% should be elevated so that they contribute to the per capita income.”
The Chief Minister is working on new schemes to help products from local businesses and entrepreneurs get national visibility. “Sarees from Ilkal, Molkalmuru, Sidlaghatta or the Channapatna toys and the Shahabad stone... we are coming out with schemes to promote them. The next budget will have programmes for self-help groups,” he said.
