The Government of Karnataka on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global e-commerce giant Amazon India to help drive e-commerce exports from the state. As part of the MoU, Amazon will train and onboard MSMEs from the state on Amazon Global Selling, its Exports Program, enabling them to sell their unique Made in India products globally to millions of Amazon customers across 200+ countries and territories.
“Karnataka has a vibrant agro, textile and garment, biotech, and toys/handicraft sectors which are held together by lakhs of MSMEs. Our partnership with Amazon India will encourage our MSMEs to leverage Amazon's global presence and showcase their products to customers across the world,” Jagadish Shettar, Large and Medium Industries Minister said during the signing of the MoU.
“This is also an effort to display the strength of the state's manufacturing and innovation prowess. Our government remains committed to making Karnataka an attractive business and investment destination,” Shettar added.
Under the newly signed MoU, Amazon will conduct training, webinars and onboarding workshops for exporters from key MSME clusters like Ballari, Mysuru, Channapatna and others. The workshops will focus on sharing knowledge and imparting training to MSMEs about B2C e-commerce exports and selling worldwide through Amazon's 17 international marketplaces to over 300 million customers worldwide.
These workshops aim to enable MSMEs with the knowledge and tools to launch their brands and grow their business in international markets through Amazon Global Selling.
“E-commerce companies like Amazon have complemented government’s efforts in not only meeting the needs of customers by safely delivering essentials but also MSMEs which moved online to grow and expand their business during the Covid pandemic,” Gaurav Gupta, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce & Industries Department, Government of Karnataka said.
Karnataka has a rich cultural and traditional heritage. Karnataka has multiple Geographical Indications products like Bidriware, Channapatna toys and Kinnhal craft. Mysore Silk, Udupi cotton and Ilkal sarees are world-famous. This will go a long way in helping the livelihoods of artisans, weavers and craftsmen from the state, Gupta added.
The event was attended by Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary - Commerce and Industries, Commissioner for Industrial Development, Gunjan Krishna Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director of Industries and Commerce, Abhijit Kamra, Director – Global Trade, Amazon India, Manish Tiwari, Vice President, Amazon Consumer Business, Chetan Krishnaswamy, Vice President Public Policy, Satish Managing Director, Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre, Revanna Gowda Managing Director, Karnataka Udyog Mitra.