Flipkart partners with FICCI for workshops to help MSMEs grow their business

India’s leading ecommerce marketplace Flipkart has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to launch a workshop series across India for MSMEs to help them leverage ecommerce to grow their business. 

Starting with Ahmedabad on November 21, Flipkart and FICCI will host a series of workshops on the theme of ‘Winning big with ecommerce,’ wherein MSMEs can understand how the ecommerce marketplace can help them build their businesses and increase brand visibility. 

Flipkart representatives will advise attendees on ecommerce-specific accounting and taxation issues, access to capital, how to identify new opportunities, the importance of brand building online, how to build and scale their brands, and supply chain management and inventory planning for ecommerce.

Through these workshops, MSMEs will learn more about how to expand beyond their physical brick-and-mortar presence to a pan-India customer base of over 200 million. Flipkart aims to host over 10 such events, to begin with, across cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Nagpur, and more.  

“As a homegrown company, we know that MSMEs play a key role in job creation and India’s economic development, and we understand the importance of giving these businesses an avenue for sustained, faster growth. We have a mission to democratise ecommerce in India, supported by innovation and technology, and create lasting benefits in the country. We aim to create a robust ecosystem to enable this growth, and familiarising and supporting MSMEs with the benefits of ecommerce is an essential step in this direction. We look forward to partnering with lakhs of MSMEs and bringing them into the ecommerce fold over the coming months,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group.

Making ecommerce inclusive

In August, Flipkart also announced the launch of ‘Flipkart Samarth’, a breakthrough initiative aimed at bringing India’s artisans, weavers, and handicrafts producers on to ecommerce. 

The initiative will open up national market access for these underserved communities, giving them access to a constantly growing pan-India customer base of more than 150 million, while empowering them to leverage the benefits of the ecommerce model.

The partnership with FICCI is the latest in the many steps taken by Flipkart towards making ecommerce more inclusive and bringing India’s myriad small businesses and sellers online. Flipkart has recently revamped its seller financing and on-boarding programmes to simplify the process of selling online for MSMEs.

“MSMEs are one of the key drivers of India’s economic growth; they contribute significantly to the country’s growth through developing manufacturing and local employment. The development of this sector is a key focus area for the government of India, as is the strengthening of the digital economy. Ecommerce has the potential to serve both these aims, and transform the MSME sector. We are pleased to work alongside Flipkart in this initiative,” said Rajiv Vastupal, Immediate Past Chairman, FICCI Gujarat State Council.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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