Flipkart Partners With Govt Scheme To Help SMEs Sell Online

India’s ecommerce major Flipkart, on Monday (December 30), partnered with the Indian government’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

DAY-NULM, which works under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, is a poverty alleviation project. Under this partnership, Flipkart will help in the skilling of underserved sections of society and will also bring them to its ecommerce platforms.

Moreover, Flipkart, along with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, will collaborate with other projects registered with the DAY-NULM to establish the Flipkart Samarth programme in 22 states in India.

The ecommerce company will help self-help groups (SHGs), which includes local artisans, weavers and crafts producers, and producers of raw and organic food items, by providing them market access, training, and support.

Additionally, the sellers registered under this programme will receive incubation support from Flipkart. The incubation will help sellers in getting domain expertise in cataloguing, account management, among others.

Through this initiative, Flipkart also aims to support financial weak sections of society, especially in urban areas, by providing them with the tools to attain economic and financial stability.

Sanjay Kumar, joint secretary and mission director of DAY-NULM said that the collaboration with Flipkart will be instrumental in the capacity building of women entrepreneurs in skills of branding, digital marketing and financial management. “Additionally, the partnership will help these entrepreneurs to get access to a wider customer base which buys locally-made high-quality products from SHGs,” he added.

Rajneesh Kumar, chief corporate affairs officer at Flipkart Group, said that this initiative will enable these sellers to overcome geographical and socio-economic constraints by leveraging the Flipkart platform to reach more than 200 Mn customers across India.

Flipkart Samarth Programme

The Walmart-owned company had launched the Flipkart Samarth in July 2019. The initiative aims to bring India’s artisans, weavers and handicrafts producers onto their ecommerce platform. The Samarth programme aims to do so by offering dedicated support for onboarding, cataloguing, account management, business insights and warehousing support among others.

Under this initiative, Flipkart works closely with NGOs and government bodies to promote and encourage rural entrepreneurs, with a special focus on women-led enterprises, artisans and weavers. Flipkart claims to have around 100K MSME sellers on its platform.

According to DataLabs by Inc42, the total gross value added (GVA) by the Indian MSME sector by MSME sector by FY20 is estimated to stand at $866 Bn, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.12%.