Amazon's first Digital Kendra to digitise MSMEs debuts in Surat

Amazon India launched its first Digital Kendra in Surat on Thursday. It plans to digitise local micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The announcement was made during a virtual event arranged by Amazon in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani who later inaugurated the centre. The US based e-commerce giants, under this initiative, aims to benefit 41000 MSMEs operating in Surat. CM Rupani said that it will help Surat's MSME hub to develop along with bringing a new opportunistic atmosphere for handicraft and traditional products coming from the tribal community.

"I would like to congratulate Amazon India for having taken this initiative that will help equip MSMEs with the right knowledge, skills and support to benefit from technology adoption and e-commerce," said Rupani in his virtual address.

"This is even more important as MSMEs look at reviving and rebuilding their businesses after the recent challenges. Initiatives like these have a multiplier effect in enabling our MSMEs to play a big role in taking India towards its vision of being a $5 trillion economy," he added further.

Amit Agrawal,  head of Amazon India addressing the audience in the virtual conference informed that 25 lakh units of MSMEs have already been digitised under Amazon's schemes which have further added around 10 lakhs employment opportunities to India's job market to date.

During the inaugural Sambhav Summit in last year,  Amazon announced three key responsibilities that it will undertake. The commitments include digitally enabling 10 million MSMEs, enabling e-commerce exports worth $10 billion and creating 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025.

"Last year at Smbhav, we had announced that Amazon will invest $1 billion in India to help digitise 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," he said.

"This is an earnest endeavour to bring the right tools, support and services infrastructure closer to where MSMEs are based and help them benefit from e-commerce. Amazon Digital Kendra will help MSMEs grow their business with the adoption of technology and play an even more important role in the revival and growth of the Indian economy," added Agarwal.

Edited by Purnima Priyadarshini