Bengaluru - July 10, 2020: Flipkart, India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace, and Department of MSME and Mines, Government of Karnataka have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the state's Arts, Crafts and Handloom sectors, by bringing them on to e-commerce and providing market access.

The partnership under the Flipkart Samarth programme will enable local artisans, weavers and craftsmen of Karnataka to showcase their hallmark products to a pan-India customer base. Both the Government of Karnataka and the Flipkart Group will focus on creating avenues to increase business and trade inclusion opportunities for these underserved segments of the society.

Benefits of Flipkart Samarth

Flipkart Samarth seeks to break entry barriers for artisans by extending time-bound incubation support. This support includes benefits in the form of:

Onboarding

Free cataloguing

Marketing

Account management

Business insights

Warehousing support

The partnership will see renowned Karnataka based brands—Cauvery Karnataka Handicrafts Development Corporation and Priyadarshini Handlooms, part of Karnataka Handlooms Development Corporation—joining the Flipkart Samarth programme.

Mr. Maheshwar Rao, Principal Secretary, Department of MSME and Mines, Government of Karnataka, said the collaboration will be instrumental in driving commercial and social development in the state and will help take local handicrafts and handlooms businesses to a national consumer base.

Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, said Flipkart Samarth will continue helping underserved communities in breaking social and demographic barriers and bringing them into the fold of the formal economy.

In less than a year since its launch, Flipkart Samarth has been supporting the livelihood of more than 500,000 artisans, weavers and micro enterprises across India. Flipkart Samarth works closely with reputed NGOs and Government bodies and livelihood missions to reach a large number of rural entrepreneurs. There is a special focus on women-led enterprises, differently-abled entrepreneurs, artisans, and weavers, who often face obstacles such as lack of access to working capital, poor infrastructure, and inadequate training.

About the Flipkart Group

The Flipkart Group is one of India's leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, and PhonePe. Flipkart was started in 2007. It has a registered customer base of over 200 million, offering over 150 million products across 80+ categories. Flipkart is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI and easy returns.

For more information, please contact media@flipkart.com