DAY-NULM, under the aegis of MoHUA, has focussed on equipping the urban poor women with adequate skills and opportunities and enabling them to promote sustainable micro-enterprises. It aims to mobilise women from urban poor households into SHGs and their federations to create a support system for these women.

Over 5.7 lakh SHGs have been formed across various States/ UTs with almost 60 lakh members. Many of these SHGs are engaged in livelihood activities, producing goods such as handicrafts, textiles, toys, eatables and so on. These were being sold primarily in local neighbourhood markets and often faced barriers in achieving visibility and wide market access. To overcome these challenges, the Ministry entered into a Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with leading e-Commerce Portals viz. Amazon and Flipkart, with an underlying narrative of women empowerment.

Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this partnership has successfully onboarded on the e-Commerce Portal over 2,000 products of nearly 5,000 SHG members across 25 States/ UTs. Innovative methods of online training for SHGs have been ensured to enable them to smoothly operate on e-portal