Digital Platform trade connect to link Exporters planned

The government has announced an upcoming Digital platform Trade Connect to link Exporters including SMEs/startups and entrepreneurs with various stakeholders in international trade. The work on the platform will begin shortly, Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal said chairing the second meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade held at Delhi. 

The ‘ePlatform’ is expected to provide facilitation for new and aspiring exporters, information on various regulations to access markets, sectors, export trends, easy access of benefits under Free Trade Agreements, access to sector specific events along with a facility to address trade related queries to officials in government of India and associated entities to get expert advice, the ministry said in a statement later.  The platform is likely to be ready in three to four months, according to the ministry.

 “Board of Trade meeting deliberated on key issues including how to leverage the Free Trade Agreements for our benefit, how to encourage the Startups/MSMEs to go beyond our borders and start exporting, boosting exports also from the services sector which remains a key driver of export growth from the country,” said Goyal. 

The Minister called for the pro-active role to be played by the states and union territories to achieve higher exports and contribute to the nation-building process. While talking of potential in service exports, Goyal emphasized on education, tourism and audio-visual services as the areas with huge potential. 

As of September last year, the share of MSME-related products in all India exports was 45.56 per cent, Minister of State in the MSME Ministry BhanuPratap Singh Verma had informed Parliament in December. The country’s exports (merchandise and services combined) during the April-September 2023 period stood at 376.29 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, the value of MSME exports had jumped to 190 billion UD dollars in FY22 from 143.9 billion US dollars in FY21 and 154.8 billion US dollars in FY20. 

The former MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari had set a target of increasing MSMEs’ share in exports to 60 per cent in five years. The target was set by him in 2020

To help MSMEs leverage e-commerce channels to enhance their exports, Goyal had launched the ‘E-Commerce Exports Handbook for MSMEs’ prepared by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The handbook provides insights into strategies to expand exports through e-commerce in order to enable MSMEs to enter and scale into global markets.  

In addition, the Scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) was extended to courier and postal exports “to help SMEs take advantage of government schemes, further pushing the e-commerce exports and boosting overall export growth from the country to achieve the target of $1 trillion merchandise exports by 2030,” Goyal had said.