Departments of Commerce, Revenue, BCAS Formulating SOP for Ecommerce Export Hubs: Official

The departments of commerce and revenue, along with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), are working on formulating a standard operating procedure (SOP) to enable the operationalisation of e-commerce export hubs in the country, an official said.

The commerce ministry has already approved five applications of DHL, Lexship, goGlocal, logistics aggregator Shiprocket, and air cargo handling company Cargo Service Centre to set up these hubs, the government official said.

While DHL has been assigned Bengaluru, goGlocal's hub will come up in Mumbai. Shiprocket and Cargo Service Centre's hubs will come up in and around Delhi airport.

"Department of Revenue, BCAS and Department and Commerce are working on issues like earmarking of space, what all facilitation these hubs will require, and how to do security clearances of goods. On all these issues, they are preparing an SOP. Once that is finalised, they will start operations," the official said.

The hubs 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 to enable the return of ecommerce consignments and rejects without payment of import duty.

The move assumes significance as India is looking to tap 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 the estimates, global ecommerce 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 ecommerce exports, is also a pioneer in export hubs for ecommerce. China's exports through this route are 6.4 per cent of its total merchandise exports in 2023.

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