Flipkart joins hands with Govt of India’s National Rural Livelihood Mission
New Delhi. Flipkart, e-commerce marketplace, has signed a MoU with the Ministry of Rural Development of the Government of India, for their ambitious Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) program, to help empower local businesses and self-help groups (SHGs) – especially those that are led by women – by bringing them into the e-commerce fold.
In the presence of Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, the MoU was signed at a ceremony in Delhi by the Joint Secretary (RL), DAY-NRLM, Charanjit Singh and Flipkart’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Rajneesh Kumar on November 02, 2021.
On this occasion, Giriraj Singh said, “SHGs are backbone of the rural economy and we are targeting to enhance their annual income to at least 1 lakh. We are identifying and collaborating with all possible partners who can contribute to this cause and partnership between DAY NRLM and Flipkart will help in the process. Rural products from SHGs have huge potential of acceptance among the masses in India and abroad and e-commerce platform will prove to be an effective tool to harness it.” MoU will enable rural women to sell their products to more than 10 crore Flipkart customers.
This MoU is a part of the Flipkart Samarth program and aims to provide skilled yet under-served communities of craftsmen, weavers and artisans with national market access through the Flipkart marketplace, as well as dedicated support for knowledge and training. Flipkart Samarth seeks to break entry barriers for local communities by providing time-bound incubation and support with onboarding, cataloging, marketing, account management, business insights, and warehousing.
The MoRD’s DAY-NRLM programme with its outreach in 6768 blocks of 706 districts across all 28 States and 6 UTs has 7.84 crore women mobilized into more than 71 lakh SHGs is proving as the game-changing initiative to empower poor rural women. Under the mission, poor women from different cross-sections of class and caste form into SHGs and their federations, providing financial, economic and social development services to their members for enhancing their income and quality of life.
Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group said, “We are leveraging our knowledge of the Indian market to enhance social and economic development for the under-served communities, many of whom reside in rural areas. The crafts of India’s local artisans, weavers and self-help groups deserve to reach a far wider audience, including and beyond their respective regions. The Flipkart Samarth initiative provides them with access to potentially more than 350 million consumers on our platform spread across the country. We are delighted and honored to partner with the DAY-NRLM and be able to contribute to a vital aspect of nation-building.”
Flipkart Samarth is currently supporting the livelihoods of over 9,50,000 artisans, weavers and craftsmen across India, and is continuously working towards bringing even more sellers onto the platform.
