VIJAYAWADA: Enthused by the success of Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) marts opened in five cities of the State last month on a pilot basis, the State government is looking forward to opening 100 more MEPMA marts in all the 13 districts of the State by the end of 2019.
The marts opened in five cities of Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kakinada and Tirupati have all registered business of Rs 1 lakh each on an average within a month’s time selling apparels, handicrafts, handloom products, hand printing on textiles, pickles, wooden furniture, coir and jute products made by women-run Self Help Groups (SHGs) and artisans, according to MEPMA.
With the public response to the marts, the government is identifying 5000 sq feet of spaces in government properties in all the district headquarters. The marts are furnished with racks, display tables, cash counters, and window displays and computers.
Speaking to TNIE, MEPMA State Mission Manager V Prabhavati said, “MEPMA marts have received a good response both from the SHGs and the customers. The marts are open to SHGs interested to do retail trade of apparels on a markup of 35 per cent as MRP on product cost of landing price. These are conventional retail spaces where customers would get the product almost 30 per cent cheaper than the wholesale price in outside markets.
This is due to the absence of middleman and other value costs. The marts are also offering a discount of 15 percent on purchases. Soon, we are planning to expand these marts to other cities and our target is to set up 100 more by the end of 2019." MEPMA marts were launched in March this year to increase the retail sales of the products manufactured by SHGs where they can sell products at competitive prices.