Paytm ties up with Digital Empowerment Foundation to empower self-help groups and micro-enterprises
New Delhi, India, September 04, 2014: Paytm, India’s largest mobile commerce platform, has partnered with Digital Empowerment Foundation to empower self-help groups and micro-enterprises across diverse clusters including textile, weaving, handicrafts, etc. The objective of the association is to provide traditional skills and artisans across the country with a digital platform and a means to monetize their skill sets. As a first step to this partnership, the Chanderi weavers of Madhya Pradesh are selling their brilliant products on Paytm, providing a much broader reach to their superlative craftsmanship.
Paytm launched its mobile marketplace earlier this year and has since then brought on board a large number of merchants who are already selling to millions of buyers through the platform. Paytm offers over 1 lakh items from 250 merchants in categories such as Men, Women and Kids’ fashion, personal grooming, accessories and Home Furnishing.
Paytm will play an important role in helping the self-help groups enhance their business. The indigenous Chanderi weavers will be able to reach out to a larger audience and display their excellent craftsmanship alongside making better sales and profits.
The mobile marketplace is also well-positioned to facilitate global exposure for the weaves that embody richness of design patterns evolved through many centuries. There are several eager customers across the country and the globe that seek ready access to the stellar productions of the Indian weavers but are unable to connect with them. Paytm will plug this gap by directly connecting the artists with their patrons without any third-party intervention.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO of Paytm, said, “At Paytm, we have been consistently promoting ethnic apparel, handlooms and Indian handicrafts. We see ourselves playing a very prominent role in the promotion of beautiful Indian artistic productions across metros as well as in the international market. After the successful launch of the Chanderi weaves on our platform, Paytm hopes to bring on board more retailers of ethnic and traditional products and help them take advantage of our mass outreach.”
Osama Manzar, spokesperson of DEF, said, “We are really excited about the association with Paytm.com. The idea is to bring the global e-commerce opportunity to the traditional skill based clusters and enable their products go global market place. Together with Paytm, DEF plans to bring forth this opportunity to more than 2000 clusters digital opportunity and livelihood on their doorsteps.”
The Chanderi weavers have been helped to come on board Paytm’s marketplace through Chanderiyaan, a platform for weavers that serves to meet the demand and supply chain for their unique products. Chanderiyaan is managed by a network of weavers’ self-help groups through a common platform – Chanderi Weavers Resource Integrated Information Resource Centre set up by Digital Empowerment Foundation in early 2009 as a cluster network for Chanderi weavers that fuses technology with traditional skills and facilitates the process of value addition at all levels.
