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Amazon launches Its First ‘Digital Kendra’ To Help MSMEs Start Digital Journey!

Setting its first brick-and-mortar ‘Digital Kendra’ in Surat, Gujarat, Amazon India announced the launch of its first resource center in India.

Staying true to its mission to digitize 10 million Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs), Amazon ‘Digital Kendras’ will act as establishments and will provide opportunities to small business owners to learn about the benefits of e-commerce. It will also avail the third-party services like shipping and logistics support, cataloging assistance, digital marketing services, GST, and taxation support to kick start their journey towards being digital entrepreneurs.

Manish Tiwary, Vice President at Amazon India said, “This is an important step towards the commitment we have made to digitize MSMEs. Our thought process was that if Amazon can go down to these MSME clusters and handhold them through their journey of digitization, it will help small businesses take their first steps towards e-commerce. Our trained resource partners will take these MSMEs through all the services and various programs which Amazon provides.”

“Amazon believes that a sustainable way for MSMEs to get on their feet is to go digital. And having the comfort of a physical center will only help MSMEs get the right level of confidence,” added Tiwary.

Tiwary added that Amazon India has helped Indian MSMEs export $1 billion in shipments in the last 12 months, under its ‘Global Selling’ program. Of the 850,000 sellers on Amazon India, the e-commerce major has onboarded over 300,000 sellers since January 2020.

“Last year at Smbhav, we had announced that Amazon will invest $1 billion in India to help digitize 10 million Indian MSMEs by 2025. And today, we take one more important step towards that goal as we open our first Amazon ‘Digital Kendra’ in Surat, Gujarat. This is an earnest endeavor to bring the right tools, support, and services infrastructure closer to where MSMEs are based and help them benefit from e-commerce,” said Amit Agarwal, senior vice president, and country head, Amazon India.

Amazon India has more than 100,000 sellers in Gujarat, at present, Tiwary added.

Last year, during Amazon Inc founder Jeff Bezos’s visit to India, the company had announced three important commitments – to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs, enable eCommerce exports worth $10 billion and create 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025.

Based on the feedback for its first ‘Digital Kendra’, Amazon India will look to open more such resource centers in the country.

In an attempt to boost the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated 50 artisan-based Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) clusters across over 18 States. At its launch the MSME Minister also said the central government is making efforts to establish at least five thousand MSME clusters under the SFURTI scheme. For the development of these clusters, the MSME Ministry spearheaded by Nitin Gadkari has funded Rs 85 Crore. Under the scheme, various small and medium scale traditional industries and artisans into clusters with the aim to improve their earnings and make them more competitive. MSME Credit Moves Towards Pre-Pandemic Levels, Witnesses a Growth of 5.7%: Report.

Gadkari also informed that the ministry is trying to fast track the approval process for the clusters, adding that these clusters would be helpful to farmers and craftspeople be independent. The clusters under the SFURTI scheme offers various programmes for the development of MSMEs including skill development, capacity building, creation of facilities such as common facility centres, rehousing facilities and marketing and e-commerce assistance to local industries. Indian SMEs Plan To Expand Businesses As Economy Revives, Restoration of Business Activities Likely To Gain Momentum Post COVID-19 Era: Survey.

Through these clusters more than 42 thousand artisans have been ensured continuous support and assistance in the traditional segments of muslin, khadi, coir, handicraft, handlooms, wood craft, leather, pottery, carpet weaving, bamboo, agro processing, tea and others. The SFURTI clusters have been inaugurated in several states including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

So far as many as 371 such clusters have been funded by the government under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries initiative. A total of Rs 888 Crore have been spend for its development by the centre. Nitin Gadkari also said that the government is looking to increase the share of MSME sector in the country’s GDP to 40 per cent from the current 30 per cent and share of exports to about 60 per cent from 48 per cent.