E commerce Exports hand book for MSMEs released

Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal has launched the ‘E-Commerce Exports Handbook for MSMEs’ prepared by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) as a definitive guide for MSMEs looking to leverage e-commerce platforms for growing their exports. The handbook offers insights into strategies to expand exports through e-commerce in order to enable MSMEs to enter and scale into global markets. 

 â€œIndia’s traditional products like ‘Shree Anna’ (millets) and numerous other agricultural goods hold substantial demand across the globe, especially in regions with a significant Indian diaspora,” a statement by the ministry quoted Goyal as saying at the launch of the handbook. 

“Through e-commerce, our goal is to bridge the gap and connect Indian MSMEs, craftsmen, farmers, and food processors with global markets,” he said. The handbook was released in English, Hindi, Gujarati and Kannada languages and will be translated into all official languages across India. 

The minister also announced extending the Scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to courier and postal exports. “This step should help the SME sectors to 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 added. 

The RoDTEP scheme enables exporters for rebate of all central, state, and local duties or taxes or levies on the goods exported which weren’t refunded under any other scheme. The scheme also provides refund of the embedded tax or duties that were not refunded or reimbursed to exporters under MEIS (Merchandise Exports for India Scheme) such as VAT on fuel used in transport, mandi tax or duties, duty on electricity used in the production of goods, etc. 

During the event, DGFT, which is responsible for implementing the Foreign Trade Policy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with e-commerce logistics and shipping software company Shiprocket.  The MoU was inked for holding capacity building and handholding sessions, as part of the e-commerce outreach conducted by DGFT Regional Authorities under its Districts as Export Hubs Initiative, the ministry said.  

The share of MSME-related products in all India exports was 45.56 per cent as of September, Minister of State in the MSME Ministry BhanuPratap Singh Verma had informed Rajya Sabha earlier this month.

India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-September 2023 exhibited a negative growth of 2.97 per cent over April-September 2022. The exports during the six-month period last year amounted to 387.8 billion US dollars vis-a-vis 376.29 billion US dollars till September in the current fiscal, data from the commerce ministry showed.