Shiprocket and CSC has Selected by the goverment to pilot E-commerce export hub

According to a senior official on Thursday, the government has chosen the logistics aggregator Shiprocket and the air cargo handling company Cargo Service Center (CSC) to establish e-commerce export hubs in the nation on a pilot basis.

Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, informed reporters here that the e-commerce export hubs (EECH) will arrive in and around Delhi airport and start operations in February of next year.

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The CSC is situated in Mumbai, whereas Shiprocket's headquarters are in Gurugram.

"We have approved two agencies to set up pilot e-commerce export hubs in Delhi," he said.

The hub would feature internal facilities for accelerated security and customs clearance. The center will also provide space for certification and quality assurance organizations.

It will also feature an easy-to-implement re-import policy. This policy will allow e-commerce consignments and rejects to be returned without incurring import duties. 

The government will release comprehensive recommendations to establish more such hubs throughout the nation, he continued, based on the input these companies provide on how these pilots are operating.

These principles will necessitate changes to several departments' policies or regulations.

"Our expectation is that the successful rollout of the pilot and subsequent scaling up will have a large number of these hubs operating in different parts of the country," Sarangi said.

According to him, e-commerce exports might reach over $100 billion by 2030 and then $200–250 billion in the next years.

Global e-commerce exports, currently valued at USD 800 billion, are predicted to reach USD 2 trillion by 2030. China's yearly exports through this channel are USD 250 billion, whereas India's are just around USD 5 billion.

China, a leader in e-commerce exports, is also at the forefront of e-commerce export hub development.  In 2023, this route accounted for 6.4% of China's total goods exports. 

"This (ECEH) will be a key element in furthering our exports from our country and allowing exporters from the hinterland to send a diverse basket of goods. It could be pharma goods, it could be textiles, home textiles, apparel, jewellery, Ayush products, and beauty products. So there is a whole range of things which can go," the DGFT added.

The goal and plan for establishing e-commerce export centers were described in the 2023 Foreign Trade Policy. Late August saw the call for applications to set up these centers for pilots.

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