Amazon India, an ecommerce company has partnership the Union Ministry of Textile, handloom division under which it will provide cooperative groups and individual handloom weavers, training and educate them to directly sell their products on the online portal. The partnership allows Amazon to engage with weavers and groups from Kota in Rajasthan, Nadia in West Bengal, Bargarh in Odisha and Bijoynagar in Assam.

Amazon India has already deployed a team in the four states and conducted workshops in Kota and Bargarh, to train weavers on online selling and other seller services offered by the company. All products manufactured by weavers for Amazon will carry two government certification marks—’India Handloom Brand’ and ‘Handloom Mark’. The products will also be made available to online shoppers from across the globe.

Gopal Pillai, Director & GM, Seller Services, Amazon India, said that all handicraft and handloom products made through tie ups with domestic handloom weavers and textile manufacturers in the rural areas will be available through a separate online store the ‘Crafted in India’ that was launched recently, which aims to bring the rich Indian heritage of handicraft and handlooms to Indian consumers’ doorsteps.

In March, The Telangana State Handicrafts Development Corporation (TSHDC) tied up with Amazon India to sell their local hand-made ‘Golkonda’ handicraft products on the e-commerce portal. Through the partnership, local handicrafts including ‘Dokra’, ‘Bidri’ crafts, ‘Nirmal’ artworks, Cheriyal paintings, pearls and brassware will be included on Amazon’s online platform for sale.

However, Amazon India does not mention how many such products are listed through these tie ups, or the gross value of sale of such handicraft/handloom products till date.