Commerce ministry pushes embassies to pick up cues for Indian exporters
Centre looks to tap non-English speaking countries as embassies translate ads on business opportunities and upload it on a portal maintained by exports body
 "Commerce ministry pushes embassies to pick up cues for Indian exporters")
What happens when business opportunities in non-English speaking counties such as China and South Korea are made public only through adverts in newspapers in local languages? Large companies have local staff picking up such announcements and then alerting their head office in India, but companies without such arrangements lose out on the opportunity and are unable to expand in non-English speaking countries.
To overcome this, the commerce department has initiated a unique exercise in conjunction with Indian embassies in South Korea and China. Now, the embassies there translate such advertisements and upload it on a portal maintained by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). “China box and Korea box have been created on the portal. Inquiries are beginning to pick up,” Rita Teaotia, secretary, commerce, told Business Standard.
To overcome this, the commerce department has initiated a unique exercise in conjunction with Indian embassies in South Korea and China. Now, the embassies there translate such advertisements and upload it on a portal maintained by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). “China box and Korea box have been created on the portal. Inquiries are beginning to pick up,” Rita Teaotia, secretary, commerce, told Business Standard.
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Such inquiries are not limited to trade opportunities but include offers of business partnerships. Teaotia said her department had written to various embassies and the initiative was beginning to pick up.
Such inquiries are not limited to trade opportunities but include offers of business partnerships. Teaotia said her department had written to various embassies and the initiative was beginning to pick up.
The total India-China trade in 2015 stood at $71.64 billion, a marginal increase over $70.59 billion in 2014. China’s exports went up to $58.25 billion, while India’s export to China declined to $13.38 billion in 2015 from $16.4 billion in 2014. In the case of South Korea, the bilateral trade grew to $18 billion during 2014-15, with exports rising nine per cent to $4.6 billion.
Though the initiative has been taken by the department of commerce, its role is confined to getting the embassies on board. The entire exercise of sifting information from the local sources, translating and uploading is done by the embassies there. The current and live tender and business enquiries with contact details are available on the home page of indiantradeportal.in. For instance, there are about a dozen inquiries in the South Korean box. One such inquiry seeks to import Indian peanuts and another activated carbon.
In the China box, however, there aren’t any entries but officials said the number was likely to pick up as the concept gains ground. “The information is of immense use to small businesses who usually do not keep track of such opportunities,” said an official.
Besides the information box on the two countries, the portal offers details of various policies concerning foreign trade. There is also detailed information on top 25 export and importing countries. The portal is managed by FIEO with the embassies having access to their respective box through password.
QUOTE UNQUOTE
ON INDIA REACHING ITS EXPORT TARGET FOR FY16
“There is a global slowdown and we are integrated to the trade system. Since only a single quarter is left, export figures would be much lesser than anticipated earlier. The economy is growing and trade is balancing itself out”
ON IMPORTS GOING DOWN
“There has been a net decrease of 4% in cumulative imports, including merchandise and services leading up to December. Slowdown in commodity prices is the reason”
Rita Teaotia, Commerce secretary