Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) introduced the eSARAS mobile app as the next step in enhancing marketing support for goods produced by women in Self-help Groups (SHGs), which will enhance eCommerce initiatives for goods produced by SHGs. Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, introduced the app in New Delhi. On this occasion, Shri Singh also opened the eSARAS Fulfilment Centre at the Ministry’s Janakpuri headquarters in New Delhi.
The Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chains (FDRVC), a not-for-profit organization established jointly by the Ministry of Rural Development and Tata Trust, will oversee the eSARAS fulfillment center, which will be used to process, package, and ship products that customers purchase through the eSARAS Portal and eSARAS mobile App. The logistics necessary to deliver an online order to a customer’s door will be handled by it.
A more successful platform for promoting the goods created by women in self-help groups will be eSARAS, a mobile e-commerce app. It is a project to promote the greatest, most genuine handicrafts and hand looms that were conceptualized by the DAY-NRLM, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
When the app was introduced, Secretary Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh described it as a project that furthers the Vocal for Local philosophy by making it simpler to market goods made by SHG Didis. The Ministry wants every SHG household to have at least two or three streams of income, he continued. Non-farm business is one of the many ways the poor make a living. The main strategy for improving non-farm livelihoods is to give SHG products commercial connections. The handcrafted goods created by SHG Didis are now accessible to everyone through the eSARAS smartphone app in an even more user-friendly manner.
Shri Charanjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, welcomed the Secretary to the event and gave him an overview of DAY-NRLM’s marketing endeavors. The DAY-NRLM’s strategy, according to Shri Singh, is a 360-degree approach with online marketing initiatives like the eSARAS App and Portal and well-known on-grounds events like SARAS Melas and Saras Food Festivals, as well as cross-promotion of activities at online and on-ground platforms.
The support provided by DAY-NRLM has been highly received by SHGs at the grassroots level across the country, according to Shri Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Director of Rural Livelihoods, and they are enthusiastic about taking part in these programs.
Shri Bipin Bihari, Co-Lead, FDRVC, thanked the attendees and promised to work with partners to maximize the App’s potential to enhance eCommerce. Senior Ministry officers as well as representatives from other partner organisations attended the event.