Commerce Secretary Expects Regulatory Framework To Boost E-Commerce Exports By September

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal announced plans for a regulatory framework aimed at bolstering India's e-commerce exports, currently standing at $5 billion annually as compared to China's $300 billion.

A meeting held on Tuesday involved key departments and industry stakeholders to explore strategies for tapping into this significant growth potential.

"We are working on setting up e-commerce export hubs in the country. We discussed on its framework. It is in our 100-day agenda," Barthwal told reporters.

When asked about the timeline for the framework to be ready, he said by September. There is a potential to take it to $50-100 billion in the coming years.

Through these hubs, small producers will be facilitated to sell to aggregators and then that aggregator will find markets and sell. "It will be a framework for e-commerce export hubs and regulatory ecosystem… These hubs will come up near airports and ports," he said.

Export products, which hold huge potential, include jewellery, apparel, handicrafts and ODOP (one district, one product) goods.

The industry is not seeking any financial assistance and just needs a good regulatory ecosystem like taxation and how returned goods will be treated, he said.

The commerce ministry's arm DGFT is working with the RBI and concerned ministries, including the Finance Ministry, on several steps to promote exports through e-commerce medium as huge export opportunities are there in the sector.

In such hubs, export clearances can be facilitated. Besides, it can also have warehousing facilities, customs clearance, returns processing, labelling, testing and repackaging.

India has set a target of $1 trillion of merchandise exports by 2030 and cross-border e-commerce trade has been identified as one of the mediums to meet this aim.

(With inputs from PTI)