Ministry of Rural Development and Amazon collaborate for online marketing of SHG products

New Delhi, May 12: An MoU between Ministry of Rural Development and Amazon Seller Services Private Limited (Amazon) was signed at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi today in presence of Giriraj Singh - Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department and Nagandra Nath Sinha, Secretary- Rural Development. The following members signed and exchanged the MoU: •             Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary-RL-1, Ministry of Rural Development •             Sumit Sahay - Director, IN Marketplace Business, Amazon Seller Services Private Limited During the course of signing of MoU, Union Minister Giriraj Singh stressed on translating the MoU between MoRD and Amazon to achieve sales on the platform and ensuring that the maximum number of women artisans become 'lakhpati'. He also suggested that both Amazon and MoRD should identify the challenges with the existing products, their packaging and branding.  The Minister also said that the MoU between MoRD and Amazon is a first step and should be followed by regular monitoring of the engagement to ensure results that are envisaged in the MoU. It is envisaged that this alliance will enable SHG entrepreneurs under NRLM to offer their products to the buyers across India through AmazonSaheli Storefront and help SHG women achieve good price for their varied products. To further facilitate the marketing of SHGs products, NRLM is creating alliance with Amazon Saheliand both the entities signed a non-Financial MoU to offer SHG women the Storefront of Amazon Saheli.  This will open new platform for making SHG products available to all Indian buyers at Amazon. Following are the salient features of the MoU signed today for supporting the SHG products selling through Amazon Saheli Store front platform: •             Amazon & MoRD will jointly enable Commercial and social development of women led rural enterprises across identified States/UTs •             Amazon will provide Training & Onboarding support to MoRD appointed sellers to list products from Self Help Groups (SHGs) associated with MoRD on Amazon.in •             Amazon will offer Referral fee waiver, imaging & cataloging and account management support at launch to mitigate cold start for SHGs •             Amazon will help market and promote products listed by SHGs through the Saheli Storefront, Social media, Events and Onsite merchandising •             MoRD (through respective SRLM) will help identify and apprise GST verified sellers to sell on Amazon.in, and assist the sellers in securing GST, PAN etc. •             MoRD & Amazon will conduct joint workshops for awareness creation and assist the sellers in listing their products and to unlock growth levers to grow their business on Amazon.in DAY-NRLM has taken a number of steps to support SHGs in accessing markets for their products. There have been efforts by States/UTsalso in getting SHGs products registered on e-commerce platforms. e.g, Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho etc. This includes dedicated web-portals managed by some of the States. The potential e-commerce platforms have been explored and specific provision such as “the Saras Collection” has been created at Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for NRLM SHGs to on-board their curated products.  As on April 30, 2022, a total of 1088 products have been uploaded at GeM by 455 SHGs/ SHG members.Similarly, there are 445 products from 114 SHG sellers on boarded on Flipkart representing 14 States.