FIEO, ebay, PayPal to hold workshop for SMEs

To stimulate the growth of Punjab-based SMEs by helping them to sell online to 100 million-plus international consumers in 160 countries, FIEO (the Federation of Indian Export Organisations) and Shawl Club (India) in association with eBay, PayPal and the Wool Industry Export Promotion Council will organise a workshop on promoting exports through e-commerce in Amritsar on August 30.

Piare Lal Seth, general secretary of the Shawl Club (India), Amritsar, told Business Standard, "The objective of the workshop is to give an opportunity to exporters to understand the exciting new sales channel of exports via e-commerce. The workshop will deliberate on how to export products to 100 million global buyers in 160 countries through eBay and PayPal. Experts from eBay and PayPal will apprise the participants on how to transition smoothly from an offline business model to an integrated model that incorporates end-to-end services, from listing products on eBay, receiving payment through PayPal to fulfilling services via leading logistic partners like FedEx and ICC Worldwide."

The majority of SMEs in Punjab are not aware of these channels. Exports are often done by middlemen and not by manufacturers, owing to ignorance of procedures. In Punjab, SMEs comprise 99 per cent of the total industrial units. The state had 1.72 lakh working units in 2012-13. Total exports by these SMEs were about Rs 10,000 crore in 2012-13.

Seth added that the workshop is likely to benefit exporters of engineering goods, sports goods, shawls, woollen apparel and textiles. In the current difficult global market conditions, an export sales channel like e-commerce can help manufacturers to reach out to the customer directly, thereby reducing the cost of products to end-users.

Seth added that he persuaded FIEO to organise a workshop in Amritsar, as the city is also known as a "city of shawls", with 250-300 shawl units and a total industry size of about Rs 3,000 crore. "We wanted shawl manufacturers to benefit, as shawls manufactured in Punjab are exported to Australia, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and the United States."

FIEO, the apex body of all export promotion councils, eBay India, a leading e-commerce marketplace, and PayPal, a leading global online payments provider, last year announced a tie-up to promote retail exports via e-commerce from India.