Online platform for Indian artisans to sell products

Social market place GoCoop will set up an online platform for selling products of cooperative and community-based artisans and weavers belonging to backward class (BC) and scheduled castes (SCs), the company said Friday.

"We have recently signed an agreement with National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) and National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) under the union ministry of social justice empowerment to provide an e-commerce platform for BC and SC artisans and weavers," GoCoop managing director Siva Devi Reddy said in a statement here.

GoCoop will also provide the artisans training, infrastructure, field services and support to help them get market prices for their products and scale up their business.

"We are supporting about 50,000 artisans and weavers through 200 cooperatives to sell about 11,000 products by focusing on handloom, handicraft and khadi clusters," Reddy said on the occasion.

Admitting that there was an urgent need to facilitate better market access to artisans and weavers, Reddy said the development model would improve efficiency of artisans and their product quality by working with the corporations.

"Our development model is based on creating identity and awareness for artisans and hand-crafted products by listing them online. Skills and capacity of artisans and weavers are built through training and other initiatives to embrace e-commerce platform," Reddy asserted.

NSFDC managing director R.K. Singh said the GoCoop online platform was chosen for synergy as the company had worked with cooperatives and community-based artisans and weavers in clusters.

"The initiative will create a social impact by providing a direct market linkage and improve livelihood of artisans and weavers belonging to BC and SC," Singh pointed out.

The ministry has mandated the corporations to build an inclusive society, wherein members of the target group can lead productive, safe and dignified life with support for their growth and development.

"We are partnering with the ministry to facilitate inclusive growth through e-commerce, which is the need of the hour, as the country braces for higher growth." GoCoop director Naga Prakasam noted.