Amazon India has partnered with the handloom division of the Union Ministry of Textiles under which it plans to educate, train and enable cooperative groups and individual handloom weavers to directly sell their products on the ecommerce portal, PTI reported. The partnership will be extended for weavers and groups in areas like Kota in Rajasthan, Nadia in West Bengal, Bargarh in Odisha and Bijoynagar in Assam. Amazon India claims to have already deployed a team in the four states and conducted workshops in Kota and Bargarh, to train weavers on online selling and other seller services offered by the company. All products manufactured by weavers for Amazon will carry two government certification marks—'India Handloom Brand' and 'Handloom Mark'. The products will also be made available to online shoppers from across the globe. In addition, Amazon India has a separate online store named “Crafted in India”, which was launched recently. The store currently lists handicraft and handloom products made though tie ups with domestic handloom weavers/textile manufacturers in rural areas. Telangana state handicrafts tie up In March, The Telangana State Handicrafts Development Corporation (TSHDC) tied up with Amazon India to sell their local hand-made ‘Golkonda’ handicraft products on the e-commerce portal. Through the partnership, local handicrafts including ‘Dokra’, ‘Bidri’ crafts, ‘Nirmal’ artworks, Cheriyal paintings, pearls and brassware will be included on Amazon’s online platform for sale. However, Amazon India does not mention how many such products are listed through these tie ups, or the gross value of sale of such handicraft/handloom…
