To ensure that more geographies within the country benefit from external trade and give greater push to the Districts as Export Hub Scheme (DEH), the department of commerce will be collaborating with various e-commerce giants to link local producers to global supply chains.
As part of the initiative the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amazon to co-create capacity building sessions, training and workshops for small and medium producers in districts identified by the government.
The programme will run in a phased manner and cover 20 districts initially. The government plans to sign similar agreements with other e-commerce giants like Flipkart, ebay, Shiprocket, Shopclues, Rivexa and DHL Express.
The MoU with Amazon was signed on behalf of the department by Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi and from Amazon’s side by Chetan Krishnaswamy (Vice President, Public Policy Amazon); and Bhupen Wakankar (Director Global Trade Amazon India).
“Under the collaboration, districts will be identified by various e-commerce platforms across India, to undertake various capacity-building and outreach activities in collaboration with DGFT- Regional Authorities. These activities will focus on educating MSMEs on e-commerce exports and enabling them to sell to customers across the world,” a statement by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said..
The focus at the district level will boost both DEH scheme and e-commerce exports. At present 70 districts out of more than 760 districts in the country account for 80% of the exports. Bringing in more districts in international trade could act as a force multiplier. Among 28 states, just four states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – account for 60% of exports from India.
District specific export action plans are being prepared for each district outlining the district specific strategy to promote export of identified products and services.
The government is also looking at increasing exports of e-commerce. According to Sarangi e-commerce exports from India would account for $200 billion of the $ 1 trillion exports expected from the country by 2030.
The demand of industry to change rules of foreign direct investment and allow inventory-based models for e-commerce platforms only for export purposes is being examined by the government.
