Export promotion via ecommerce on the cards

NEW DELHI: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will come out with a strategy to promote exports through ecommerce, detailing the role of the Reserve Bank of India, India Post, customs authorities and export promotion councils.

A Parcel Directorate for ecommerce packages, standardisation of PIN codes and integration of India Post tracking with foreign postal systems are some of the initiatives the government is considering to boost exports through ecommerce. “We plan to prepare a document in a month’s time with deliverables for all stakeholders involved in import and export,” said an official privy to the details.

The department had a meeting with stakeholders including representatives from Amazon, eBay and PayPal, other government departments and export promotion councils on Wednesday.

It has decided to set up four working groups comprising industry and government officials to promote exports through ecommerce. The working groups are focussed on RBI, customs, Goods and Services Tax, and India Post, and will detail the norms that can be eased for ecommerce exports.

“We want a seamless factory-to ship system wherein the product meant for export is tested, quality parameters are checked and gets customs clearances with adequate handholding,” the official added.

As per LocalCircles estimates, India exported products worth $1.2 billion via the ecommerce channel in 2018-19. These include categories like home décor/furnishings, medicinal products, books, fashion apparel, beauty products and office products. About 75,000 sellers or exporters are currently enabled to sell on ecommerce.

To achieve 10 times growth, it has proposed RBI to give exporters the flexibility to sell goods at a premium based on product demand or at a lower price in case of stock liquidation, permit higher inward remittance of invoice value at the time of export, and allow realisation of export proceeds up to a period of 24 months from the date of export.

“Such growth of ecommerce exports will benefit the Indian economy by creating jobs at local levels, bring additional foreign exchange and provide a significant boost to Make in India,” said Sachin Taparia, chairman of LocalCircles.