Amazon sets up its first Digital Kendra in India: We explain what it is

Amazon Logo
(Image credit: Amazon)

In a bid to provide a resource centre on ecommerce for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Amazon India today announced the launch of its first Digital Kendra.

It has been set up in the city of Surat, Gujarat, and the Digital Kendra will provide the MSMEs the opportunity to learn about benefits of ecommerce and avail a range of services pertaining to it.

Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani inaugurated the first Amazon Digital Kendra in a virtual event along with Amit Agarwal, Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India and Manish Tiwary, VP, Amazon India. 

Amazon India has chosen Surat for its first Digital Kendra because it is one of the most important MSME clusters and thousands of MSMEs are located in and around the city. Also, Amazon India has more than 100,000 sellers in Gujarat.

One-stop centre for getting going with ecommerce 

Digital Kendra is a brick and mortar resource centre, where MSMEs can learn about the benefits of ecommerce and kick start their journey towards being digital entrepreneurs.

Vijay Rupani said Amazon India's initiative will help equip MSMEs with the right knowledge, skills and support to benefit from technology adoption and ecommerce. 

Amit Agarwal said “This is an earnest endeavor to bring the right tools, support and services infrastructure closer to where MSMEs are based and help them benefit from ecommerce."

Amazon will engage with local partners to set up and manage the Digital Kendras. It will provide local partners additional revenue streams while playing an integral role in creating greater awareness and understanding of e-commerce, understanding the exports markets, and offer MSMEs the tools to grow their business. 

MSMEs can visit the Amazon Digital Kendra, which will be an one-stop centre for availing third party services including training on benefits of ecommerce, GST and taxation support, shipping and logistics support, cataloging assistance, digital marketing services amongst others, the company said.

Commitments being fulfilled: Amazon India

It will also provide opportunity for MSMEs to avail onboarding services if they are interested in registering as sellers on Amazon.in or engaging with other Amazon programs.

Based on the response to the new Digital Kendra, Amazon India will look to open more such centres in other parts of the country.

Last year at the inaugural Smbhav Summit, Amazon had announced three important commitments - to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs, enable ecommerce exports worth $10 billion and create 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025. The company said it is on track to fulfil these commitments

It claimed that it has already digitized 2.5 million MSMEs, enabled cumulative exports worth $1 billion and helped create nearly 1 million jobs in India till date including 300,000 direct and indirect jobs since January 2020.

Balakumar K
Senior Editor

Over three decades as a journalist covering current affairs, politics, sports and now technology. Former Editor of News Today, writer of humour columns across publications and a hardcore cricket and cinema enthusiast. He writes about technology trends and suggest movies and shows to watch on OTT platforms. 

Read more
ecommerce
Amazon is selling its ad tools to other ecommerce sites
Microsoft's $3bn investment in India
Microsoft reveals billion-dollar cloud and AI investment plan in India
Amazon EV Delivery Truck
Amazon will now be sending shoppers straight to a brand’s website when it doesn’t stock their products
Reliance Corporate Park (RCP), Navi Mumbai
India's richest person wants to build the world's largest data center, five times the capacity of Microsoft's biggest site
AWS data center
Amazon is spending billions on expanding its data centers in Georgia
Reliance Corporate Park (RCP), Navi Mumbai
'Who wants to be a billionaire?': Millions will get app to 'build high compute AI applications' and get them deployed across India's largest phone network
Latest in Internet
Google Maps on a phone being held in someone's hand
Google Maps is getting two key upgrades, for easier route planning and quicker access to Gemini AI
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, March 27 (game #1158)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, March 27 (game #389)
Pinterest
How to post on Pinterest
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, March 26 (game #1157)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, March 26 (game #388)
Latest in News
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin Rennovations
Disney’s giving a classic Buzz Lightyear ride a tech overhaul – here's everything you need to know
Hisense U8 series TV on wall in living room
Hisense announces 2025 mini-LED TV lineup, with screen sizes up to 100 inches – and a surprising smart TV switch
Nintendo Music teaser art
Nintendo Music expands its library with songs from Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Tetris
Opera AI Tabs
Opera's new AI feature brings order to your browser tab chaos
An image of Pro-Ject's Flatten it closed and opened
Pro-Ject’s new vinyl flattener will fix any warped LPs you inadvertently buy on Record Store Day
The iPhone 16 Pro on a grey background
iPhone 17 Pro tipped to get 8K video recording – but I want these 3 video features instead