Ahead of the festive season, Amazon India today announced the launch of Karigar Mela in partnership with Tribes India. As part of the initiative, Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs, Government of India launched the Karigar Mela storefront.
As part of this initiative, customers will be able to access and shop from a selection of over 1.2 lakh unique traditional tribal & local Indian handicrafts and handloom selections.
Some of the unique art forms that will be available in products listed for purchase as part of Karigar Mela include Bidri, Dhokra, Ikkat, Patachitra, blue art pottery etc. As part of the Karigar Mela initiative, Karigar sellers will also benefit from a 100% Selling on Amazon (SoA) fee waiver for 2 weeks starting from August 30, 2021, to September 12, 2021.
“The tribals' artisan and weaver community are at the nucleus of the Indian economy. It is also one of the segments that have been most severely hit due to the ongoing pandemic. The launch of Karigar Mela will play an important role in helping artisans and weavers revive their livelihoods and accelerate their growth during these challenging times. I also appreciate the long-term partnership of TRIFED and Amazon to empower artisans and weavers from across India and helping in increasing visibility for local products by bringing the offerings to the forefront. Such initiatives will help in driving deeper sentiment of ‘vocal for local’ among Indian consumers and help in boosting Prime Minister’s vision to be an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” said Munda.
“To help generate online demand for artisans and weavers’ products while supporting them with working capital as they look to bounce back from the recent disruptions, we have launched the ‘Karigar Mela’ storefront. With the festive season coming up, we believe that such initiatives will empower indigenous craftspeople, weavers and tribal artisans and help the rich legacy of Indian art and craft to thrive,” said, Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India. “We will continue to collaborate with government and non-government organizations to enable Indian artisans and weavers across the country to accelerate their growth through e-commerce,” added Agarwal.
“TRIFED and Tribes India are a family of 5 lakh tribal master craftsmen and women who produce a rich volume of handicraft and handloom products in India. Our partnership with Amazon as part of the MoU signed has enabled us to take Made in India tribal products to customers across the country and the world. With Amazon introducing the Karigar Mela initiative towards the revival of this segment, tribal artisan sellers will benefit from a dedicated store as it will bring customer attention to their unique and differentiated products while providing them with a host of relaxations and benefits of selling online.” said Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED, Government of India.
