CII, Amazon India join hands to boost MSME business

On Wednesday, industry body CII and Amazon India have signed an agreement to expand micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) export capacity in 10 states and help them manage e-commerce to improve domestic trade. Amazon India will collaborate with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train MSMEs in 10 states to develop and scale up their business in India and globally.

They will also help companies leverage technology through e-commerce adoption to reach out to customers in India.

Trainings, workshops and master classes will be conducted by Amazon and CII as part of the MoU to allow MSMEs to sell online.

Three primary announcements were made by Amazon in January 2020 - digitising 10 million MSMEs; enabling US$ 10 billion in e-commerce exports; and generating 1 million jobs by 2025.

Amazon and CII will also endeavor to establish a special export module to make it easy for MSMEs across India to export.

At the 17th CII Global SME Business Summit, the pact was completed.

MSMEs are major creators of employment and form the foundation of our economy.

Technology and e-commerce will play a key role in supporting this growth over the next five years, and in influencing the effectiveness of millions of MSMEs in both domestic and international markets, said Union Minister for MSMEs Mr. Nitin Gadkari.

Virtually addressing the summit, he said the government and industry's joint efforts would eventually lead to realising the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).

CII and Amazon will also provide daily reports on competitive categories, promotion and branding of their goods that will provide market research and perspectives for MSMEs.

CII Director General Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee said, “E-commerce and e-commerce export education will enable MSMEs to recognise opportunities that can help them navigate national and global exports.”

Amazon India Senior VP and Country Head Mr. Amit Agarwal said, “We plan to bring about a digital transformation for MSMEs in 10 states across India through this partnership.”

CII also launched the Digital Saksham initiative at the summit along with the Centre for Inclusive Growth of Mastercard and the National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ni-msme) to allow digital know-how and acceptance for over 3 lakh MSMEs across India.

Mr. Gadkari said, “I am delighted to know that CII, Mastercard and ni-Digital msme's Saksham project involves a scale of heading out to more than 3 lakh MSMEs in 25 cities, including rural and peri-urban clusters. This will help push structural progress and further accelerate milestones in order to achieve our priorities and ensure financial inclusion.”

Mr. Ari Sarker, co-president of Mastercard (Asia Pacific), stated that small enterprises play an important role in restoring local communities and fostering economic recovery.

He added that it is important to look for solutions that concentrate not only on how we can support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but also on those that are structured to allow SMEs to support themselves.

He further added that the programme is an extension of the global commitment of Mastercard and India to inspire, encourage, and enhance small entrepreneurs to make them more competitive.

CII Deputy DG Ms. Amita Sarkar and Mastercard's Center for Inclusive Growth Vice-President Mr. Alison L Eskesen, stated that the proposed date for the implementation of the project is January 2021 and the execution of trainings among the MSMEs is proposed for June 2021.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.