Amazon India signs MoU with ‘EDII’ and Cottage & Rural Industries Dept., Govt of Gujarat to boost exports from Gujarat.
On the occasion of National Handloom Day, Amazon India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), and the Cottage and Rural Industries Department, Government of Gujarat, to help drive e-commerce exports from the state. The MoU was signed at the State Crafts Award Ceremony and ODOP Exhibition in Akota Stadium Vadodara in presence of Shri. Balwantsihn Rajput, Hon’ble Minister, Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Industries, Cottage, Khadi and Rural Industries, Civil Aviation, Labour and Employment, Shri Jagdish Vishwakarma, Hon’ble Minister of State, Co-operation, Salt Industries, Printing and Stationery, Protocol (All Independent Charge), Micro, Small and Medium Industries, Cottage, Khadi and Rural Industries, Civil Aviation and Shri. Pravin Solanki, Secretary and Commissioner, Cottage and Rural Industries amongst others.
As part of the MoU, Amazon will focus on bringing weavers and artisans as well as other micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from Gujarat on Amazon’s ecommerce exports program called Amazon Global Selling. This will enable them to sell their unique ‘Made in India’ products to hundreds of millions of Amazon customers across 200+ countries and territories. The Cottage and Rural Industries Department will identify more than 1,000 artisans from Gujarat in the handloom and handicraft sector through Hastkala Setu Yojana, one of its flagship program, who are interested in scaling their business through exports and enable them to attend the workshops and training programs. Amazon and EDII will conduct training sessions, workshops, and awareness sessions on B2C e-commerce exports for the artisans from across the state.
The sessions will educate artisans on how to register and list their products to sell on 18+ Amazon Global Marketplaces apart from educating them on tools that make exports easier and will be conducted through a mix of in-person workshops and online webinars. This collaboration between Amazon EDII and Gujarat Government will help foster a supportive community by facilitating networking opportunities for MSME with like-minded individuals, mentors, and industry experts to help them enhance their market visibility.
Shri Balvantsinh Rajput, Hon’ble Minister, Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Industries, Cottage, Khadi and Rural Industries, Civil Aviation, Labour and Employment said, “One of our key priorities has been to boost exports from Gujarat and through this partnership with Amazon, we aim to empower lakhs of MSMEs in Gujarat to embrace e-commerce exports. It will help them leverage Amazon’s global presence to showcase their products to customers across the world. MSMEs taking their local products to global customers will play a critical role in supporting the local economy and display the strength of the state’s culture and heritage as well as our manufacturing and innovation capabilities.”
Shri. Jagdish Vishwakarma (Panchal), Hon’ble State Minister, Gujarat said, “This collaboration with Amazon is a great integration of culture, technology and economy. One of our biggest priorities is to boost exports from Gujarat and working with Amazon Global Selling, MSMEs and weavers & artisans of Gujarat, we will be able to showcase their products to customers across the world.”
Bhupen Wakankar, Director Global Trade at Amazon India, said, “This collaboration is a key step towards helping lakhs of MSMEs and weavers & artisans across the state grow their business globally through e-commerce exports. Gujarat is already one of the top exporting states on Amazon Global Selling with 12,000 exporters coming from big and small cities across the state. We see a strong potential in boosting exports of products across categories like Apparel, Beauty, Consumables, Gems & Jewelry as well as GI-tagged products like Surat’s Zari Craft, Kutch Embroidery, and Pithora Paintings. Gujarat is key market for Amazon Global Selling with over 12000 exporters from the state on the program. We have a lot of exporters joining us from cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Anand, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Porbandar, etc. Overall, the number of exporters from Gujarat on Amazon Global Selling has increased 50% compared to last year. We launched the Amazon Global Selling program in India back in 2015 to bring the benefits of our global logistics and infrastructure closer to small businesses across India and help them reach customers in any part of the world. Today, the program has already grown to 1.25 lakh exporters from 200+ cities across India showcasing hundreds of millions of Made in India products to customers in 200+ countries and territories via Amazon’s 18 global marketplaces/websites. Together, they have already exported Made in India goods worth nearly $8 billion.”
Dr.Sunil Shukla, Director General, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII): Our focus remains on enabling small businesses with the right skill sets and training as well as creating networking forums for them to learn from like-minded individuals and industry experts. We anticipate that this collaboration with Amazon and the Government of Gujarat will empower Gujarat’s MSMEs, offering them a significant avenue to exhibit their entrepreneurial prowess and specialized knowledge to a global clientele.
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