Commerce Ministry, DHL To Sign MoU To Increase Export Outreach
Currently, India has over 800 districts, out of which only 62 account for 80% of the country's exports, an official says.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade will be signing a memorandum of understanding with German logistics company DHL in an effort to increase export potential.
The Ministry of Commerce is engaging with more private players, Santosh Sarangi, director general of foreign trade, said at the inaugural edition of the Asia Pacific E-commerce Policy Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
This is part of the DGFT's ongoing outreach and capacity-building efforts to onboard more Indian craftspeople and small businesses to be part of the "export bandwagon", according to Sarangi.
The MoU with DHL follows those signed with Amazon and Shiprocket in November and December. The ministry intends to collaborate with the e-commerce players under the Districts As Export Hubs initiative and promote e-commerce exports from the country.
Sarangi pointed out that due to the diversity of India in terms of language, region and crafts, the ability to do outreach and capacity building to onboard skilled craftspeople, weavers and home-textile manufacturers to join the export bandwagon is a major challenge.
"In this context, DoC and DGFT have undertaken a massive exercise to partner with many private players, be it Amazon, Walmart, Shiprocket or DHL," he said. "We will sign an MoU with DHL to take up outreach activity in 76 districts."
Currently, India has over 800 districts, out of which only 62 account for 80% of the country's exports, Sarangi said. "Just imagine if we are able to give a fillip to e-comm exports and involve more districts, where export outreach and integration isn’t robust."
In November, the DGFT had revealed it was in discussion with various e-commerce platforms like Flipkart/Walmart, EBay, Rivexa, ShopClues, Shiprocket and DHL Express as part of the DAEH initiative.
The ministry estimates India's current e-commerce export in the range of $5–10 billion, while cross-border-level e-commerce export is expected to exceed $2 trillion by 2030.
