Flipkart plans to bring about 50,000 medium and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from Tier III cities, within itself by one year. The e-commerce firm believes this move will not only create a lot of secondary jobs, but also help the firm in sourcing the maximum number of categories within local areas and cut delivery and logistics cost significantly.
Flipkart claims to have already partnered with over one lakh MSMEs within its platform.
“Our knowledge and understanding of the Indian ecosystem allow us to construct frameworks such as ‘Growth Capital’ through which sellers can scale their businesses, prosper, create more employment opportunities and continue to transform the country’s economy,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart.
Sources said that currently 70 per cent out of the 20 million units sold on the platform came from small sellers.
Notably, a business of over Rs.1 crore has been conducted by 2,500 sellers in 2018 through Flipkart. To expand in the Tier III cities, they will try to bring smaller companies, retailers and kirana stores within its platform.
“Our aim is to ensure that India’s internet economy becomes a hub for innovation and as a home-grown company. We want to solve unique Indian problems through technology. We are committed to making it happen through our initiatives focused on MSMEs, agriculture, Make in India, skilling and building partnership with kiranas,” said Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group.
