Buoyed by the pilot project’s success, the govt plans to expand the initiative to 1,000 e-marts across Andhra Pradesh by 2025

kiranmai tutika | AMARAVATI

With the success of MEPMA (Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas) e-marts in five cities, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to expand the initiative to 1,000 units this year. The e-marts act as a double bonanza as they become platforms for women entrepreneurs and promote sustainable practices.

Established just a few months ago, on pilot basis in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kakinada and Tirupati, the e-marts managed to do good business. Buoyed by the response, the officials are now in plans to expand these to more cities across the State.

MEPMA e-marts feature a diverse array of products, including jute and cloth bags, biodegradable tableware, organic foods, and handcrafted jewellery. These items not only reflect the craftsmanship of rural artisans but also emphasize eco-consciousness, resonating with the growing demand for sustainable goods.

The e-marts are designed for the SHG women to start the retailing of apparels with very competitive prices from various manufacturers through online platforms.

Apart from the apparels, other products that are manufactured by the groups and artisans such as handicrafts, handlooms, hand printing on textiles, pickles wooden furniture’s, coir products and jute products are also being marketed online with the help of companies like ONDC- Mystore.

The platform, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), allows self-help groups to list their products online. Previously, these groups relied on traditional methods like open markets or limited online platforms. The new platform aims to expand their reach and increase their income.

The government is actively supporting this initiative by providing training and guidance to the self-help groups on using the ONDC platform. The initiative has enabled hundreds of women to transform their skills into thriving businesses. 

As on pilot basis, firstly, five cities have been identified and started these Mepma e-marts. As on date almost all the e-marts have done a business over Rs 10 lakh. With this success, the officials are in plans to bring up many more marts, in other cities too. The officials have kept a target to open 1000 such e-marts across the State by the end of the year 2025.

Speaking to Metro India, V Prabhavati, State Mission Manager, MEPMA, said, “The project MEPMA e-marts received very good response, both from the SHG women and also from the customers.

Mepma e-mart is for SHG’S, who are interested to do the online marketing of apparels on a markup of 35% as MRP on product cost of landing price. This enables women to sell their products at their convenience besides the conventional retail outlets.

Even the customers would get the product almost 30 percent cheaper than the wholesale price in outer markets. This is due to the absence of middlemen and other value costs, etc. Soon we are planning to expand these to other cities.”