Indian MSMEs, brands using Amazon GSP cross $2 billion in cumulative exports

Agarwal said the programme has helped MSMEs sustain their exports business and in turn, supported hundreds of families amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to lockdowns and disruptions in supply chains globally.

PTI

July 20, 2020 / 16:17 IST

E-commerce giant Amazon on Monday said Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and brands that are part of its Global Selling Programme (GSP) have crossed $2 billion in cumulative exports. The company, which had started GSP in 2015, allows Indian companies to export to other countries through 15 Amazon websites globally. The programme had started with a few hundred sellers and now has over 60,000 exporters.

In January this year, Amazon had pledged to enable $10 billion in cumulative exports by 2025.

Amit Agarwal, senior VP and country head Amazon India, said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the Indian economy and by digitising them, the company is contributing towards boosting exports and job creation that will empower inclusive economic growth of the country.

"The GSP helps take homegrown businesses global and provides an avenue for MSMEs to build global brands. The programme is witnessing momentous growth. It took three years for the programme to hit exports of $1 billion and now it has grown 100 per cent to hit the next $1 billion in less than 18 months," he added.

Indian SMEs and brands using Amazon global selling export worldwide has now crossed $2 billion i.e. Rs 30,000 crore in cumulative exports, he noted.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show