The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has kick-started a new initiative to bring weavers and artisans on-board to its GeM portal and provide them greater markets access as well as the opportunity to sell their products directly to government departments.

Around 28,374 artisans and 1,49,422 weavers had registered on the portal by the end of last month.

The GeM, along with the necessary assistance from the office of development commissioner handloom and development commissioner handicrafts, had begun this procedure back in July 2020.

Officers belonging to as many as 28 Weaver Service Centres and 56 Handicraft Service Centres were trained and enrolled in this seller registration process.

“This will increase participation from under-served seller groups such as artisans, weavers, micro entrepreneurs, women, tribal entrepreneurs and self-help groups working in Handloom and Handicrafts, who face challenges in accessing government markets,” the Union Commerce Ministry’s statement was quoted by the Mint.

The entire process aims at giving direct market access to about 35 lakh handloom workers and 28 lakh weavers.

28 exclusive product categories and 170 custom product categories have been created for handloom and handicraft products respectively.

Specific web-banners and market pages have been made to display products developed by Indian artisans, weavers, cooperative societies, self-help groups (SHGs) and producers and facilitate their sales directly to government buyers.