FIEO ties up with eBay, PayPal to help exporters, MSMEs

Top Stories

»	49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
»	'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
»	Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
»	CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
»	Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar

SME Times News Bureau | 13 Mar, 2012
The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) Thursday signed an agreement with e-commerce portal eBay and online payment provider PayPal to boost exports and promote use of e-commerce among the micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, said a top official.

"Exports through e-commerce in the last three years have increased by 400 percent to $1.4 billion. It is expected to grow many-fold in the coming years," said FIEO President Rafeeque Ahmed. FIEO is the apex body for export promotion set up by the government.

He said the tie-up with eBay and PayPal would provide FIEO members an access to a target audience of over 100 million active eBay and PayPal users across the world.

FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said the tie-up would help especially the small and medium enterprises, who don't have enough resources to reach to customers outside the country.

“The tie-up will help especially the MSMEs to make use of the ready available eBay’s global market place while they concentrate on their export productions. The marketing effort, which is quite a costly affair, will be drastically reduced for these companies with elimination of markup cost of intermediaries. Accepting secure and seamless international payments in up to 25 currencies will be enabled by PayPal. We hope to see more Indian retail exporters transform their traditional offline businesses and seek further growth in the global marketplace," he said.

Speaking at the event, Paypal India Country Manager Mayur Patel said,"There are 30 million* micro and small and medium enterprises in India, and at PayPal, we are committed to helping small businesses grow through online exports – safely and conveniently. This tie-up is a significant first step in helping the smallest of Indian retail exporters increase sales and sell directly to global customers who want to buy Indian goods but prefer the convenience of shopping and paying safely online – anytime, anywhere with PayPal."

Muralikrishnan B., country manager of eBay India, said the three institutions together would help small businesses grow through online exports.

"This tie-up is a significant first step in helping the smallest of Indian retail exporters increase sales and sell directly to global customers, who want to buy Indian goods but prefer the convenience of shopping and paying safely online," Muralikrishnan said.