Logistics enabler for e-commerce Shiprocket and air cargo handling company Cargo Service Centre (CSC) have been selected by the government to run pilots on the setting up E-commerce Export Hubs (ECEH) in the country, a senior official said Thursday.
The hubs will be set up in and around Delhi airport and will be rolled out in February next year, Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi told reporters.
While Shiprocket is headquartered in Gurgaon, the CSC is Mumbai-based.
“The hub will have facilities for expedited customs and security clearance in house. Provision for quality and certifying agency will happen with the hub. It will also have a very easy reimport policy,” he added. Reimport policy will enable the return of e-commerce consignments and rejects without payment of import duty.
Based on the feedback received on running of these pilots, the government will come out with detailed guidelines for setting up more such hubs across the country. The guidelines may require policy or regulatory tweaks in different departments, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BACS) and DGFT.
“Our expectation is that the successful roll out of the pilot and subsequent scaling up will have a large number of ECEH operating in different parts of the country,” Sarangi said.
He said e-commerce exports have the potential to grow to $ 100 billion plus by 2030 and then further to $ 200-250 billion in future years.
Global e-commerce exports are expected to touch $2 trillion in 2030 from $800 billion now. India’s exports through this medium is only about $ 5 billion as compared to China’s $ 250 billion annually.
China, which is a leader in e-commerce exports, is also a pioneer in export hubs for e-commerce. China’s exports through this route are 6.4% of its total merchandise exports in 2023 while for India this figure stands at $ 1.14%.
“This (ECEH) will be a key element in furthering our exports from our country and allowing exporters from the hinterland to send a diverse basket of goods. It could be pharma goods, it could be textiles, home textiles, apparel, jewellery, ayush products, beauty products/. So there is a whole range of things which can go,” DGFT added.
In the Foreign Trade Policy of 2023 the intent and roadmap for setting up e-commerce export hubs was outlined. The applications for setting these hubs for running pilots were called in late August.