Need for national policy to tap e-commerce opportunities: Official

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia on Wednesday called for a comprehensive national e-commerce policy to tap the huge opportunities in this segment, saying the country is not entirely ready to tap the opportunities offered by e-commerce.

According to the official, there is a crying need to ensure that various arms of the government like the Department of IT, Finance and Department of Posts are on the same page to capitalise on the business prospects offered by the digital space.

Teaotia said since the B2C (business-to-consumer) commerce transactions in India are growing rapidly at a compounded annual growth rate of 34 per cent, there is a need for pegging aspirations realistically as the growth had taken place on a low base.

The Commerce Secretary was speaking at a workshop on "Going global through E-commerce Marketplace for B2C Product Manufacturers, Exporters, Retailers and Online Sellers", organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) together with Amazon India.

Sanjay Bhatia, President, Ficci-Confederation of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), said e-commerce shopping is a thriving market, with people increasingly choosing this option to order products and services at their convenience.

"Global e-commerce transactions in 2016 were $1.9 trillion accounting for 8.7 per cent of the total retail spending worldwide," he said.

Bhatia added that the transactions are expected to grow to above $4 trillion by 2020 -- making up to nearly 15 per cent of the total retail spending -- and Ficci-CMSME has partnered with Amazon India to create awareness about the potential.

A report by Amazon India -- which was launched at the same event -- said Indian exporters on the e-commerce platform saw a massive 224 per cent growth in their global exports business in 2017.

"Amazon's international marketplace saw a staggering rise of 500 per cent in Indian products offered globally and 310 per cent growth in Indian exporters using Amazon Global Fulfilment channel," said the first edition of Amazon Exports Digest 2017.

The insights of the report revealed phenomenal increase in demand for Indian products abroad, growth of Indian exporters selling globally, and most popular product categories offered by Indian exporters abroad.

According to the report, exporters from 2,047 pin codes across India, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh emerged as the leading states with most international exporters on Amazon.

"Since its launch in 2015 in India, Amazon's Global Selling Program has opened e-commerce markets to Indian businesses allowing them to go global and showcase the 'Made in India' creations to the world, and supporting government's vision of establishing India as a global manufacturing hub," said Gopal Pillai, General Manager and Director, Seller Services, Amazon India.

--IANS

ppg/nir/dg