Indian government invites proposals from industry stakeholders to establish e-commerce export hubs across the country

The government of India is seeking suggestions from industry participants to create e-commerce export hubs (ECEH) around the nation. The program, which was unveiled in the most recent budget, is to encourage exports via online shopping by offering a simplified infrastructure that helps small producers, middlemen, and other parties engaged in international trade. The initiative is seen as a critical step in raising India's export market share in e-commerce worldwide.

The main goal of the ECEH project is to provide predictability and the fastest turnaround times in order to foster an environment that is favourable for exports of e-commerce. These hubs are intended to make it simple to re-import returns or rejections and to gather different parties involved in cross-border e-commerce under one roof. The government initially intends to establish ten to fifteen of these hubs in certain locations that would function as centres with advantageous business infrastructure, facilitating local producers' access to international markets via aggregators.

There will be two main physical components for every ECEH. The first will be a fulfilment facility where products that have undergone pre-screening and are awaiting a customer will be packaged, labelled, and stored. Once a buyer has been located, the items will be cleared and ready for delivery from the customs station, which will be the second component. To further expedite the export process, these hubs will include warehousing facilities, customs clearing, processing returns, labelling, testing, and repackaging services—all under one roof.