Ayekart joins hands with SERP, Department of Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh for Uplifting the local SHGs and FPOs
India, 14th July 2022: With an objective to give a boost to the Self-Help Groups (SHG), Farmer Producer
Organizations (FPOs) and the farming community of Andhra Pradesh, Ayekart, India’s first integrated
tech platform signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Society for Elimination of Rural
Poverty (SERP). As part of the MoU, both the organizations will cooperate in collaborative projects for
the commercialization of embedded technology related to Agri and Food processing at various levels of
the value chain for boosting the domestic and export of Agri products.
SERP, the Government organization of Andhra Pradesh for Rural Development is dedicated to facilitating
poverty reduction through social mobilization and improvement of livelihoods of rural poor in the
State. It also aims to create scalable opportunities in rural areas, find digital solutions, and skills and guide
rural communities to meet their aspirations by building Agri-entrepreneurs. For this purpose, the SERP
seek support from Ayekart through MOU to bring model/lighthouse FPOs and input shops run by
SHGs on self-sustaining mode and digitizing the SERP rural marts. The strength of this mammoth
organization is the unique structure, the community based by organizing 69,31,113 rural women
into 6,52,440 SHGs, 26,753 Village Organizations, 656 Mandal Samakhyas, and 13 Zilla Samakhyas.
The signing and exchange of MOU were done between the President, AYEKART, and CEO, SERP in the
presence of Shri Mutyala Naidu, Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister and Minister for Panchayat Raj & Rural
Development, GoAP, and all the SERP team. While acknowledging plenty of activities by Amit
Kumar Singh, particularly in the areas of value addition, strengthens the FPOs by finding markets by
harnessing the market potential, the CEO requested and that the SERP is expecting a lot in near future
from AYKART in the collaborative areas and in women empowerment. It was reiterated by the
President, Ayekart will align with the objectives of the Government to bring the desired
change in the SME, MSME, and Retail segment by “Empowering the Traditional Business” and help in
bringing transparency and credibility to the entire ecosystem.
Commenting on the joint initiative, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Co-founder & CEO, of Ayekart said, “We are
extremely pleased to announce the signing of this MoU with AP State Government. At Ayekart, one of
our key mottos is to digitize the food and Agri value chain of India, help rural FPOs and empower them.
We are passionate about traditional businesses, building an inclusive e-commerce ecosystem, and
constantly innovate to find new ways to uplift and empower all sections of society, especially MSMEs.
This partnership with SERP will be channelized through the FPOs and SHGs of Andhra Pradesh through
the digitally synced supply chain and uplift their overall performance, providing required assistance and
support through input stores and SERP rural marts. This will provide the local rural farming
communities and SHGs with to access a wider market for their products and create a conducive and digital
ecosystem while boosting their income via integrating the processes, increasing the variety of farm
produce, building market linkages, and technical advancement, etc.”