Government To Initiate Pilot Launch Ecommerce Export Hubs

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in a trade notice to the cross border ecommerce stakeholders said to launch a pilot of ecommerce export hubs (ECEH) to facilitate small producers to sell their products to middlemen.

The draft from Directorate General of Foreign Trade was released on Thursday (August 22), which said that the major objectives of ECEH are to provide for predictability and shortest possible turnaround time for ecommerce exports, easy re-import for their returns or rejects, bringing various cross border online retailers under one roof.

The development was first reported by the Economic Times.

“Based on the draft modalities proposed, the government would like to initiate pilot launch of ECEH,” said the trade notice.

The notice further added, “Based on the said proposal, further details including software requirements for ECEH, to facilitate seamless and expeditious export clearances shall be firmed up.”

The notice gave a detailed outlook on the movement of goods to ECEH, its prescreening and fulfillment process, along with its design. The draft specified that the ECEH would have two physical components or assigned areas, where the first would be a fulfillment area for packing and warehousing, while the latter would be a customs station for clearance and dispatch.

These products to be shipped are taken to the port of export only with a customs seal, and an EGM (export general manifest) is filed after the goods are exported. The procedure ends with a GST document linked to the shipping bill, the draft also specified.

This comes at a time when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to establish ecommerce export hubs in a public-private partnership (PPP) model in this year’s budget, to empower MSMEs and traditional artisans to sell their products in international markets.

It is to note that, a month ago, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said that a regulatory framework to boost ecommerce exports will be ready by September.

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