The Uttar Pradesh government has signed an MoU with e-commerce site Flipkart to bring state’s handicraft products on the platform, an official release said on Wednesday.

There are 40 crore customers on Flipkart and the aim of the state government is to give a vast market to handicraft products of the state through Flipkart, the release said, adding that the MoU was signed on August 7.

Along with handicrafts and handloom products, products made by Divyangjans of the country will also be available.

On the initiative of the government, Flipkart is also training craftsmen for this, the release said.

The government is providing facilities and loans to handicraftsmen and weavers and taking their products to the market of the country.

The state government is also organising camps to give subsidies on loans to weavers. The government is providing a subsidy of up to 20 percent on loans and up to seven per cent on interest as per rules.

With this initiative of the government, the weavers have been freed from the clutches of moneylenders, the release added.

Back in April, Flipkart announced that it signed a MoU with the West Bengal government to train and support local artisans, weavers and handicraft makers to leverage its e-commerce platform to scale up their businesses nationally. The agreement was signed with the state’s micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles department.

At the time, Flipkart Group Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar had stated the move would be instrumental in driving the economic growth of weavers, artisans, and small businesses with the e-commerce company’s national market access.

“As a homegrown company, we are passionate about our sellers’ growth, building an inclusive e-commerce ecosystem and constantly innovate to find new ways to uplift and empower all sections of society, especially MSMEs,” he added.