Textiles ministry, Flipkart join hands to help handloom weavers

The textiles ministry and e-commerce firm Flipkart have joined hands to facilitate online marketing of products from handloom weavers, parliament was told Thursday.

"A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the development commissioner for handlooms, ministry of textiles, and Flipkart Internet Private Limited, Karnataka on Aug.25 in this regard," Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

According to the agreement, Flipkart will provide handloom weavers in India online marketing platform and customer acquisition to help them get remunerative prices for their products and scale up their business.

It will also help the weavers in accounting, cataloging, inventory and invoice management, packaging transporting returns from buyers, brand buildings, assured automated payment and providing customer service, it said.

"The agency will charge 3-4 percent of the product value sold through online. This arrangement will facilitate the handloom weavers to earn more income by eliminating the middlemen and the handloom weavers can sell their product under their brand name and evolve as an entrepreneur selling his products directly to buyers across the country without stepping out of their workplace," the statement said.