PIB | 27 May, 2022
Union
Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Anupriya Patel
launched the Indian Business Portal - An International Trade Hub for
Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers on Friday in New Delhi.
FIEO in partnership with
GlobalLinker, has designed and developed the “Indian Business Portal”,
an International Trade Hub for Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers.
This
is a B2B digital marketplace to empower SME exporters, artisans and
farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales
globally.
Launching
the portal Smt. Anupriya Patel said, “Indian Business Portal addresses a
number of elements which are part of the vision of the Hon’ble Prime
Minister and a commitment of this government like digitizing exporters,
supporting MSME and encouraging greater exports of products Made in
India”.
The Minister mentioned that during the pandemic online platforms
such as e-commerce have shown immense potential in supporting millions
of businesses to sustain themselves.
She
further mentioned that this initiative has come at very appropriate
time as currently Indian exports are witnessing robust growth. India’s
overall exports (i.e. Services and Merchandise) touched USD 676.2
Billion in financial year 2021-2022 as both Services and Merchandise hit
record high exports in financial year 2021-2022.
India’s overall
exports were USD 526.6 Billion and USD 497.9 Billion in 2019-20 and
2020-21 respectively. The Minister further informed that India’s
Merchandise exports had crossed USD 400 Billion milestone in Financial
Year 2021-2022 and stood at USD 421.8 Billion which is a phenomenal
increase of 44.6 percent and 34.6 percent over 2020-21 and 2019-20
respectively.
Lauding
the initiative of FIEO, Patel said that Indian Business Portal
will be a big encouragement to Indian Startups, SMEs, Artisans &
Farmers (GI Products), and Service providers to take their first step
toward the exports.
She expressed hope that more exporters will engage
on the Indian Business Portal and would provide their valued feedback to
FIEO. Smt Patel also mentioned that this is the most opportune time
for the young entrepreneurs to get into business and exports.
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, Govt. of
India said tech-enabled governance will play a key role in determining
India’s growth and competitiveness.
The government is focused on
paperless, automated processing systems, simple procedures for trade
players, online data exchange between departments, digital payments
& acknowledgements. Lauding the efforts of FIEO, he said that
Progress in technology helps develop the economy and strengthen Indian
firms in the competitive global market.
In
his address, A Sakthivel, President FIEO said that FIEO has been
championing the cause of Indian exporters and in a digital era. He
further stated that FIEO could do much more for the exporters and help
boost India’s export opportunities through a digital platform solution.
Our SMEs are blessed with vast skills, unique product portfolios and
diversity, he added.
Dr.
Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO, FIEO stated that FIEO’s vision
is to focus on innovation to provide new and value-added services to
exporters. He said, “Over a period of time, we will seek to build trade
corridors with a number of countries for small businesses to trade
efficiently through this partnership. The platform will facilitate the
enhancement of India's trade linkages for the International markets”.
The portal has a diverse product mix i.e Consumer & Lifestyle
Products, Industrial Products, Business Services and Geographical
Indication (GI) products. This portal holds special value for artisans
and farmers’ products dealing in Indian GI and handicraft products.
India has about 370 GI-certified products across various categories, he
added.
Sameer Vakil, Co-founder & CEO, GlobalLinker, said "FIEO is
helping businesses navigate international market opportunities through
its wide range of progressive initiatives. He said that FIEO’s domain
expertise, combined with its partnership with GlobalLinker has led to
the creation of the Indian Business Portal, where businesses ranging
from artisans to women entrepreneurs and from farmers producing GI
products to leading star export houses can create digital catalogues for
the world to discover.