You may soon buy groceries from local Kirana stores with the help of a national e-commerce portal. To enable small retailers across the country to take orders online, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have joined hands to develop a national e-commerce marketplace, The Indian Express reported. It is expected to be launched in a phased manner from next week. The move has been taken days after Reliance Industries and Amazon India announced their plans to accelerate embarking local retailers and grocers.
The decision of a government national e-marketplace is expected to bring much convenience for the local grocery stores in Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities, where issues of connectivity and supply chain are prevalent. While the government body is responsible for conception and designing of the portal through its Startup India wing, the trader’s body has already conducted pilots across the country, that too, from the customer level to the retailer and up to the level of distributors.
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The Indian e-commerce platform is likely to onboard about 7 crore small traders in the country, including manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers of all verticals of domestic trade and consumers will be an integral part of this e-commerce platform, the paper reported.
Meanwhile, as the country is going through a nationwide lockdown, the government has been consistently trying and has assured the seamless supply of essential goods. While the local grocery stores are opened in colonies, the government is itself arranging food trucks and other means to provide the essential goods in the containment zones and areas that are sealed.