National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a Government of India agency to promote and develop SMEs has started their own ecommerce portal: MSMEShopping.com. The website was launched today by Union Minister Kalraj Mishra.

The minister shared that products featured on this portal would only be sourced from MSMEs (Micro, small and medium enterprises) based in India, which will result in lower prices. He stressed on the need to educate the masses regarding this portal.

NSIC CMD H P Kumar revealed the biggest advantage which this digital B2C marketplace would have compared to other such similar portals in India: Pricing Plan.

MSMEs can join this platform for an annual fee of Rs 5000, and there would be no transactional charges. Hence, for a flat yearly fee, they can sell as many products without any extra charges.

The biggest marketing problem which small and medium scale industries face is time: More often than not, founders and founding members of such small enterprises would be busy with their core business activities, thereby losing on the potential leads and sales which can happen if proper marketing is done.

This unique initiative will certainly help micro, small and medium enterprises with a platform wherein they can launch their products easily.

Right now, the portal features several popular categories such as Electronics, books, Apparels, Health products, Stationary and more. MSMEs can also sell machineries which are not included in other ecommerce portals.

Overall, there are 110 suppliers and 1000 products listed as of now. As per H P Kumar, they are expecting 3000 – 5000 suppliers by 2015 as some heavy marketing and promotion is soon going to be launched by the agency, a fact which Union Minister Kalraj Mishra had also shared.

NSIC, which was established in 1955, works under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) provides several benefits and advantages to small enterprises in India. And with the introduction of the digital medium, advantages will manifold.

For example, NSIC operates a Point Registration Scheme under the Government Purchase Programme, wherein small enterprises can get the following advantages:

No tender fees

Information about tenders get shared earlier than others

No advanced payment required

No security deposits

This is a classic example where offline efficiencies are being matched perfectly by able online presence.

Do let us know your views regarding this unique initiative by the government of India: Will it ‘click’?

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