More flexible rules needed to reach $200-300 billion e-commerce exports by 2030: EY-Assocham report

ANNA |
Updated: Jul 18, 2024 5:18 PM IST

New Delhi (India), July 18 (ANI): Adopting more flexible policies and addressing existing issues in customs, payments and logistics will help Indian exports achieve the target of $200-300 billion in e-commerce exports by 2030, says a report released by EY in association with ASSOCHAM.

To meet the ambitious targets, the report has put forward several suggestions to boost e-commerce exports. The report titled ‘Enabling e-commerce exports from India’ further recommended that facilitating re-imports, removing the variance limit in payments made and extending the time frame for realization of receipts will significantly boost e-commerce exports.
“Establish clear guidelines for reimport transactions to enable duty-free reimport of consignments up to USD 600 and, for consignments above this threshold, formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) to treat returns as reimport of returned goods,” the report added.
The report also recommended clear definition of the responsibilities of exporters and sellers. It advocated the extension of export incentives to e-commerce exports and the effective implementation of e-commerce export centers.
Other key recommendations in the report include creating separate customs supervision codes for e-commerce exports and increasing the shipment limit for courier exports.
The report suggests that adopting more flexible policies and addressing existing issues in customs, payments and logistics could help boost e-commerce exports and achieve the government’s target of $200-300 billion by fiscal year 2030.

In addition, the report places emphasis on facilitating re-imports, abolishing the limit on deviations from executed payments and extending the deadline for realizing receipts.
According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, total exports of goods and services in fiscal year 2024-25 will start with a strong growth of 6.88 per cent and is estimated to reach $64.56 billion in April 2024, up from $60.40 billion in April 2023.
India’s total exports (goods and services combined) are estimated to be USD 64.56 billion in April 2024, up 6.88% over April 2023.
The report makes recommendations on simplifying customs procedures, enabling robust payment reconciliation and settlement mechanisms, and various policy interventions to achieve exponential growth in the e-commerce sector.
To boost e-commerce exports, amendments have been proposed to the Courier Imports and Exports (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2010, which include increasing the export consignment limit under courier services to USD 50,000.
In addition, the report also asked for reducing the cost of payment reconciliation by imposing it as a percentage of the shipment value to ease the financial burden on small-scale e-commerce exporters. Allowing periodic reconciliation of shipping bills and removing the 25 percent change clause for processed payments, and extending the payment and repatriation periods to 18 months in line with global practices.
The EY-ASSOCHAM report also calls for extension of export promotion incentives to e-commerce exporters under the Courier Import and Export Regulations, 2010 to boost the growth of the sector. (ANI)