By Chinmaya Dehuri
Bhubaneswar, May 2 (IANS): In a leg-up for its MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) products, the Odisha government is in talks with leading online retailers for marketing these internationally.

The state government has also sought the assistance of Mumbai-based World Trade Centre (WTC), which will assist local businesses to foray online into global markets and help enhance Odisha's competitiveness.

"We are in talks with WTC to facilitate online marketing of our MSME products. This will facilitate wider market exposure for our products. We are also in direct talks with some leading online retailers (like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal)," MSME Secretary Panchanan Dash told IANS.

Towards this end, the MSME department has launched the MSME Bazaar web portal that will be linked with online retail platforms for displaying and selling products like plastic items, paints, enamels, stabilisers, food products and animal feed being manufactured in the state.

"The local industries are manufacturing top quality products that can match global standards. All that the local entrepreneurs need is a better marketing push that, in turn, will also generate employment and fetch good revenue for the state," Dash said.

He said the association with the online retailers will bridge missing linkages like market intelligence and market access and help local entrepreneurs in getting remunerative prices for their products.

The state has about 1.5 million MSME enterprises that employ 3.3 million people in the state, stakeholders say. Odisha, which is among the top 10 states in generating employment through the sector, has registered a 32 percent growth rate against the national average of 28 percent. The rate of employment growth has been 29 percent against the national average of 26 percent.

The MSME sector contributes 40 percent to the state's exports.