Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday launched a new trade portal to provide real-time trade-related information to existing and aspiring exporters and exuded confidence that it will help India improve its global market share.
Labelling the initiative as FAST (Futuristic, Accessible, Single window, Transformational), Goyal said the Trade Connect e-Platform will not only benefit the large exporters but also aid the growth journey of small entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
“The world is our market. While global trade seems to be in a paralytic situation, we should not be looking at what is happening in the world, we should be looking at a larger market share, and this is one effort to increase India’s market share in the world,” he said.
“A small entrepreneur or a small FPO, in the remotest parts of India, should be able to use this in a simple fashion…. The big guys will always manage to find information, access (and) connectivity. Our effort is (that) nobody should be left behind,” the minister said.
The portal serves as a one-stop solution for providing exporters with quick comprehensive trade-related information, thereby addressing information asymmetry while connecting them to various government entities like the Department of Commerce, Export Promotion Councils, Indian missions abroad, and other trade experts.
It includes many features such as product and country guides for comprehensive market insights, trade agreements, and tariff explorers to unlock the benefits of free trade agreements and sourcing from India to showcase Indian products globally.
Goyal asked the stakeholders to provide their feedback about the platform, asserting that a new Trade Connect e-Platform 2.0, with enhanced features and services based, can be introduced before the next Board of Trade meeting.
“As we go along, we’ll improvise and keep making this better. The more feedback received from you, the better will be the work done by our teams. We have taken many initiatives, but I feel sad that stakeholders don’t give us enough feedback (and) don’t use various offerings as much as we would like them to do,” he noted.
The minister said the new version of the platform will incorporate Hindi and other official languages, besides creating synergies and partnerships to reach the goal of $1 trillion merchandise and $1 trillion in service exports by 2030.
“Going forward, this can also get interconnected with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portals for the suppliers to get a wider market because economies of scale will have a huge impact on our ability to export more and be more competitive,” Goyal said.
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General at the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), listed additional services that will be introduced to the portal during the second phase. These include pre and post-shipment export credit, insurance cover for exports, export logistics-related services, and services pertaining to exporters’ transactions with overseas countries, among others.
First Published: Sep 11 2024 | 8:51 PM IST
