UP Govt Sets Up 543 Prerna SARAS Stores To Take Rural Women's Products From Local To Global Markets

Lucknow, September 15: Women of Uttar Pradesh will now take on leading companies in the global market. Under the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, 543 Prerna SARAS Stores have been established in the state to connect self-help group products with larger markets. At the same time, online and offline marketing platforms have been developed for more than 3,000 products. This has opened the way for rural products to gain the strength of branding, sales, and digital markets.

Products of self-help groups can now reach larger markets through platforms such as ONDC, e-SARAS, Prerna Mart, Meesho, Amazon and Flipkart. While Prerna SARAS Stores at the district and block levels provide a structured sales platform for local products, digital platforms are helping them expand beyond villages and districts to national and international markets.

For women in self-help groups, reaching the market after production is one of the biggest needs of their entrepreneurship. Yogi government has prepared a network for the branding, packaging, marketing and sale of local products to strengthen this link. This will allow groups not only to prepare products but also to understand market demand and expand their small enterprises accordingly. Arun Kumar, Mission Director, Rural Livelihood Mission, said the focus is on giving women in self-help groups opportunities for entrepreneurship rather than limiting them to savings and loans. With increased packaging, branding and market linkages along with production, rural women’s small enterprises are getting an opportunity to expand.

Online marketing has already begun through the Bijnor State Aggregation Center to tap into digital markets. Bringing the products of different groups together on a single platform is considered an important step toward systematically organizing sales and market access. This will allow local products to reach customers far away. In particular, this system will help provide a wider market for products identified with a particular district or region.

For women of self-help groups, access to markets is not merely a means of increasing sales, but also an opportunity to create product identity and brand value. Through Prerna SARAS Stores and online and offline platforms, the focus is on branding and marketing beyond production. According to Mission Director Arun Kumar, market linkages give women an opportunity to understand demand for their products and decide the direction of production and marketing accordingly. This can enable the groups' activities to move beyond livelihoods and take the form of small enterprises.

Prerna SARAS Stores, marketing platforms, and online marketing for more than 3,000 products show the changing nature of rural women’s entrepreneurship. Products prepared in villages will no longer be limited to village sales; they will reach stores and digital platforms, and move from local markets to national and international markets. This system is creating a new pathway for the local talent of Uttar Pradesh’s rural ‘Didis’ by giving them market access, identity, and brand value, and taking them forward from local to global business.

Published on: Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 06:47 PM IST