Govt to set up e-comm hubs to promote exports establish 10-15 hubs initially

     New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI) The government on Tuesday announced setting up of hubs to promote exports through e-commerce medium in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode and initially 10-15 hubs will be established.
     Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said these hubs, under a seamless regulatory and logistic framework, will facilitate trade and export-related services under one roof.
     "To enable MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and traditional artisans to sell their products in international markets, e-commerce export hubs will be set up in PPP mode," she said.
     Commenting on the announcement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said these hubs will have facilities like expedited customs clearances and will be located near major cargo centres.
     "We will start with 10-15 hubs, (after that) judge the interest of trade, business and exporters. If we get good encouragement, we will scale them up. We can identify (these hubs) in consultation with the industry. Industry has to come forward," the minister told reporters here.
     The commerce ministry is working on developing a regulatory framework for these hubs and is expected to be ready by September.
     At present, India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion compared to China's USD 300 billion, annually. There is a potential to take it to USD 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 to sell. Export products, which hold huge potential through this medium include jewellery, apparel, handicrafts and ODOP (one district one product) goods.
     In such hubs, export clearances can be facilitated. Besides, it can also have warehousing facilities, customs clearance, returns processing, labelling, testing and repackaging.
     Federation of Indian Export Organisations Director General Ajay Sahai has earlier stated that it will be a kind of bonded zone that will facilitate exports and imports of e-commerce cargo and to a large extent address the problem of re-imports because in e-commerce, about 25 per cent of goods are re-imported.
     Last year, the cross-border e-commerce trade was about USD 800 billion and is estimated to reach USD 2 trillion by 2030.
     A report by economic think tank GTRI India's e-commerce exports have the potential to reach USD 350 billion by 2030, but banking issues hinder growth and increase operational costs.
     India has set a target of USD 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.
     Sitharaman, presenting the Union Budget, also said the TDS rate on e-commerce operators is proposed to be reduced to 0.1 per cent from 1 per cent at present.
     Apex IT industry body Nasscom said the move will encourage more sellers to participate in e-commerce activities.
     "For payments made by e-commerce platforms to sellers, this will help in unlocking working capital for the sellers on e-commerce and encourage sellers to participate in e-commerce activity," Nasscom said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)