Amazon announces its first Digital Kendra in India

In an attempt to provide an e-commerce resource centre for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), Amazon India today announced the launch of its first Digital Kendra. It has been established in the city of Surat, Gujarat, and Digital Kendra will provide MSMEs with the opportunity to learn about the benefits of e-commerce and take advantage of a variety of services related to it.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani inaugurated the first-ever Amazon Digital Kendra at a virtual event alongside Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Country Director of Amazon India and Manish Tiwary, Vice President of Amazon India. Amazon India has chosen Surat for its first Digital Kendra because it is one of the largest MSMEs clusters and thousands of MSMEs are located in and around the city. Furthermore, Amazon India has more than 100,000 sellers in Gujarat.

One-stop hub to start with e-commerce

Digital Kendra is a physical resource centre, where MSMEs can learn about the benefits of e-commerce and begin their journey towards being digital entrepreneurs. Vijay Rupani said that the Amazon India initiative will help equip MSMEs with the right knowledge, skills and support to benefit from technology adoption and e-commerce.

Amit Agarwal said, "This is an earnest endeavour to bring the right tools, support and services infrastructure closer to where MSMEs are based and help them benefit from e-commerce."

Amazon will collaborate with local partners to set up and manage Digital Kendras. It will provide local partners with additional revenue streams while playing an integral role in creating greater awareness and understanding of e-commerce, understanding export markets, and offering MSMEs the tools to grow their businesses. MSMEs can visit Amazon Digital Kendra, which will be a one-stop shop to take advantage of third-party services, including training on the benefits of e-commerce, GST and tax support, shipping and logistics support, cataloguing assistance, digital marketing services, among others, the company said.

Commitments in compliance: Amazon India

It will also provide an opportunity for MSMEs to take advantage of onboarding services if they are interested in registering as a seller on Amazon.in or participating in other Amazon programs.

Based on the response to the new Digital Kendra, Amazon India will seek to open more such centres in other parts of the country. Last year, at the inaugural Smbhav Summit, Amazon announced three major commitments: digitally enabling 10 million MSMEs, enabling $ 10 billion worth of e-commerce exports, and creating an additional 1 million jobs in India between 2020 and 2025. The company said it is on track to meet these commitments.

It stated that it has already digitized 2.5 million MSMEs, enabled cumulative exports worth $ 1 billion, and helped create nearly 1 million jobs in India to date, including 300,000 direct and indirect jobs. since January 2020.