Five more firms look for govt approval to set up e-commerce export hubs

As many as five more firms have submitted their applications to the government to set up e-commerce export hubs in the country and a decision on this is expected soon, a senior official said.

Logistics aggregator Shiprocket and air cargo handling company Cargo Service Centre (CSC) have already been selected by the government on a pilot basis to set up these hubs in the country.

"We have received five more applications, including from DHL and Lexship. Out of the five, we have shortlisted three. We are going to decide on these applications soon," the official said.

Two of the hubs will come in and around Delhi airport and begin operations in February next year.

It will have facilities for expedited customs and security clearance in-house. Provision for quality and certifying agencies will also happen within the hub.

It will also have an easy re-import policy, he added. This policy will enable the return of e-commerce consignments and rejects without payment of import duty.

The official said that based on the feedback received from these firms on the running of these pilots, the government will come out with detailed guidelines to set up more such hubs across the country.

These guidelines will require policy tweaks or regulatory tweaks in different departments.

The move assumes significance as India is looking at tapping into the growing export opportunities in this segment. E-commerce exports have the potential to grow to over USD 100 billion by 2030 and then further to USD 200-250 billion in the coming years.

As per estimates, global e-commerce exports are expected to touch USD 2 trillion in 2030 from USD 800 billion now. India's exports through this medium are only about USD 5 billion compared to China's USD 250 billion annually.

China, which is a leader in e-commerce exports, is also a pioneer in export hubs for e-commerce. China's exports through this Representative Picture route are 6.4 per cent of its total merchandise exports in 2023.

In the Foreign Trade Policy of 2023, the intent and roadmap for setting up e-commerce export hubs were outlined.