June 23, 2021
The weekend event will see participation of over 100,000 manufacturers and small businesses.
The event will include startups, women entrepreneurs, artisans, weavers, and neighbourhood stores through several Amazon initiatives.
MSMEs contribute nearly 30 per cent of India’s GDP, half of total exports, and employ over 110 million workers.
MSME Minister Shri Gadkari stated that technology and e-commerce will ensure the success of the MSME sector.
Amazon India has announced plans for the ‘Small Business Days 2021’ event to be held in the first weekend of July as a way of supporting local sellers, enabling them to recover from the business impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns across the country. An official statement from the company said that the event will encourage over 100,000 manufacturers and small businesses, featuring over 1,000 startups and brands from Amazon Launchpad, approximately 680,000 women entrepreneurs from Amazon Saheli, over 1.2 million artisans and weavers from Amazon Karigar, and over 50,000 neighbourhood stores connected through the brand’s Local Shops programme, as reported by Economic Times on June 23.
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Gadkari stated how MSMEs serve as the backbone of the economy by contributing nearly 30 per cent of India’s GDP and close to half of total exports, along with providing employment to over 110 million people across the country. “MSMEs contribute significantly to the socio-economic growth of the country by fostering entrepreneurship and generating large employment opportunities” he said, addressing the role that technology will play in the success of MSMEs and their contribution to India’s GDP.
In the last 5 years, the Indian e-commerce sector has witnessed significant growth, triggered by an increase in internet and smartphone penetration in the world’s second-largest telecom market, offering the lowest mobile data costs globally. Driven by Government initiatives to digitise essential services and the impact of the pandemic on digital penetration, India’s internet economy is expected to double from US$125 billion in April 2017 to US$250 billion by 2021, backed primarily by the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market. India is expected to become the world’s third-largest consumer economy by 2025, with consumption expenditure expected to reach US$4 trillion in the next five years.