It will provide a framework for e-commerce export hubs and a regulatory ecosystem. These hubs will emerge near airports and ports | Photo: Shutterstock.com
A senior government official said on Tuesday that a regulatory framework to boost the country’s exports through e-commerce is expected to be ready by September.
According to Commerce Minister Sunil Barthwal, India’s annual exports through this medium currently amount to only about $5 billion, compared to the $300 billion generated by China.
He said there is huge potential to boost these exports. In this regard, a meeting was held at the ministry on Tuesday with concerned departments such as revenue and industry representatives from areas such as logistics and marketplace platforms.
“We are working on setting up e-commerce export hubs in the country. We have discussed the framework for it. It is in our 100-day agenda,” Barthwal told reporters here.
When asked when the framework should be ready, he replied: September.
There is a potential to increase this amount to $50-100 billion in the coming years.
Through these hubs, small producers can sell their products to aggregators, who can then find markets and sell.
“It will provide a framework for e-commerce export hubs and a regulatory ecosystem. These hubs will be set up near airports and ports,” he said.
Export products with great potential include jewelry, clothing, handicrafts and ODOP (one district one product) products.
He added that the sector is not looking for financial help and only needs a good regulatory framework, for example on taxes and the way returned goods are handled.
The DGFT department of the Ministry of Commerce is working with the RBI and concerned ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, on various steps to promote exports through e-commerce as there are huge export opportunities in the sector.
Such hubs can facilitate export clearances. They can also have warehousing facilities, customs clearance, returns processing, labelling, testing and repackaging.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations Director General Ajay Sahai had earlier said that it will be a kind of bonded zone that will facilitate export and import of e-commerce cargo and to a large extent address the problem of re-importation as in e-commerce about 25 per cent of goods are re-imported.
Last year, cross-border e-commerce trade amounted to approximately $800 billion, and is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2030.
India’s e-commerce exports could reach $350 billion by 2030, but banking woes are hampering growth and increasing operating costs, according to a report by economic think tank GTRI.
India has set a target of exporting $1 trillion worth of goods by 2030. Cross-border e-commerce is seen as one of the ways to achieve this goal.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: Jul 16, 2024 | 11:46 PM IST