Karnataka govt. may rope in Flipkart for SME marketplace

SnapDeal, Amazon already working with state for online marketplace project

After having partnered with e-commerce majors SnapDeal and Amazon, the Karnataka government will next week meet representatives of Flipkart to discuss an initiative to jointly develop an online marketplace for small and medium enterprises (SME) of the state.

The state has already tied up with SnapDeal and Amazon to create online platforms where the SMEs from the state can sell their produce. These online marketplaces will have a joint branding of the e-commerce company and the state government, and are aimed at helping SMEs of Karnataka to connect with the global market, Srivatsa Krishna, Karnataka's secretary of information technology (IT), biotechnology and science & technology, said.

"The platform being developed with SnapDeal is almost ready and is undergoing testing, while with the others, the work is just commencing now," Krishna said. "We will be meeting Flipkart next week and discuss with them."

While the timeline for setting up of the platform is not yet known, Krishna said the platform will have several thousands of SMEs as part of it. Citing an example, Krishna said, the platforms would be a "replica of SnapDeal", and would be "designed and sponsored" by the state government along with the e-commerce companies.

These platforms would not be a part of the existing websites of these online marketplaces, but would use their technical expertise.