Amazon India signs 2 MoUs with UP govt to digitise local businesses, boost exports

The Indian subsidiary of the American e-commerce giant Amazon India announced the signing of two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the export promotion department of the Government of Uttar Pradesh today, in the presence of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the Loan Mela event, which was taking place at the Lok Bhawan Auditorium in Lucknow.

With the singing of the MoUs, the company announced a number of key initiatives aimed at providing digital access to thousands of small businesses, entrepreneurs, traders, artisans, and weavers in Uttar Pradesh (UP) with the objective of assisting them in expanding their operations by being able to sell their products to customers throughout India and the rest of the world.

As part of the two MoUs, Amazon will train and onboard MSMEs from the state in its Global Selling programme and assist them in exporting their distinctive Made in India goods to clients in more than 200 nations and territories. Additionally, the e-commerce company will concentrate on connecting vendors enrolled with the one district one product (ODOP) initiative to its official website and assist them in serving clients all throughout India.

At the same event, the UP Chief Minister officially launched Amazon's first Digital Kendra in UP to expedite the digitisation of neighbourhood shops and small businesses in Kanpur and surrounding areas.

The Digital Kendras are physical resource centres that will assist in digitising thousands of neighbourhood shops and small companies from Kanpur and surrounding areas, bringing them closer to the advantages of e-commerce.

According to the company’s official press release, these facilities will give local sellers the chance to discover the advantages of going online and take advantage of a variety of outside services, including support for shipping and logistics, cataloguing assistance, digital marketing services, GST and taxation, to get their entrepreneurial journeys in the digital world off to a strong start. As part of the effort, sellers will also be able to take use of onboarding services whether they want to sign up as Amazon.in sellers or participate in other Amazon programmes like Amazon Global Selling, Amazon Pay, Amazon Karigar, Amazon Saheli, "I Have Space," and "Amazon Easy," among others.

Praising the initiative of the e-commerce giant, the Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath remarked, “Digitizing small businesses and boosting exports from the state are key focus areas for us and I would like to commend Amazon for launching initiatives that are aligned with our priorities. Our state departments will work closely with Amazon for the benefit of lakhs of entrepreneurs across Uttar Pradesh.” “I believe that initiatives like these can help them grow their business and also contribute to growing our state’s economy to $1 trillion by 2027. We are committed to making Uttar Pradesh an attractive business and investment destination,” he went on to add.

Manish Tiwary, Country Manager of India Consumer Business at Amazon India also commented on the development, by saying, “Our approach at Amazon has always been to use technology to empower local stores, entrepreneurs and small businesses across India to scale up their business, catering to customers anywhere in India and the world using e-commerce. With this association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh and under the guidance and leadership of Hon’ble Shri Yogi Aditya Nath, we aim to help lakhs of local businesses in the state to benefit from technology adoption and become digital entrepreneurs. These initiatives reflect our commitment to digitise 10 million small businesses including local stores and enable $20 billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025."

Currently, Amazon India's marketplace in Uttar Pradesh consists of over one lakh vendors, including more than 15,000 neighbourhood shops. The company asserted that it is continuing to broaden its presence in the state while keeping in mind its objectives for national economic growth and employment generation.

 

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