IIA to provide online presence for UP units

The Indian Industries Association (IIA) has decided to provide online marketing support to the state’s ailing SMEs by providing them a common platform on the internet through a website www.iiaonline.in.

The website will detail the available products and the relevant contact information of the manufacturers and traders. Interested customers would now be able to reach potential customers abroad without incurring excessive costs.

The IIA website is already functional and is visited by more than 5,000 people everyday. Sixty manufacturers have already been listed on the website. The initiative is important since at least 90 per cent of the SMEs do not have a website.

DS Verma, executive director, IIA, said the association will charge a fee of Rs 250 from the association-members and Rs 1,000 from non-members for listing on the site. The proposal will benefit around 100,000 small ventures.

“The state’s SME products like saddlery from Kanpur, carpets from Bhadohi and Mirzapur, Zari products from Lucknow, Bareilly and Farrukhabad, glassware from Firozabad and brassware from Moradabad are some of the prominent goods to be listed,” Verma added.

Tarun Khetrapal, former president, IIA, said: “There was a huge demand for our goods and products abroad, but due to lack of relevant information and proper marketing, the immense market potential was largely unexploited.”