Amazon India’s Kala Haat programme, launched in late 2016, has helped to revive dying art and textile traditions like ‘Lippan Kaam’, the craft of Mudwork made using camel dung, practised by a handful of individuals from the Rabari nomadic tribes of Gujarat; Ilkal sarees, a 1,200-year-old weaving tradition that originated in Ilkal town in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka; and Rogan Art, unique paintings made on fabric from brightly coloured castor oil which is practised by a single family in Kutch district of Gujarat.
In partnership with DC Handlooms under the Ministry of Textiles, Amazon has empowered over 1,400 master weavers, co-operatives, artisans and other APEX bodies directly impacting 1.5 lakh weavers and artisans across 15 States and 48 regional clusters.
Kala Haat identifies artisans and weavers across India and makes their work available to Indian and global customers on the ‘Handloom & Handicraft’ store on Amazon.in. The store showcases products across categories and provides these artisans and weavers detailed training through workshops on creating email IDs, getting PAN card, Aadhaar card, GSTIN, listing products, and providing them with marketing tools, storage infrastructure and delivery network to help them sell on its marketplace.
“We started with a pilot in four clusters including Santipur and Phulia in West Bengal, Bargarh and Nuapatna in Odisha, Pochampally in Andhra Pradesh and Kota in Rajasthan. Today we showcase over 40,000 genuine handloom and handicraft products on our platform, comprising 104 unique craft forms like Pithora paintings, Rogan Art, Lippan Kaam, handpainted leather lamps from Dharmavaram with themes of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, among others. We also have a special selection from over 20 State and national award winning weavers on Amazon.in,” Gopal Pillai, Director & GM, Seller Services, Amazon India, told BusinessLine .
He says there has been a five-fold increase in sales for those with the Kala Haat programme in one year. Starting with 100 sellers over five years ago, Amazon.in has grown its seller count to over 3,80,000 today. It has invested ₹2,700 crore in its India operations barely three months after it infused ₹2,600 crore in May, in preparation for the festival season sale coming up later this year when it will lock horns with Flipkart.