20-09-2023 12:02 PM | Source: Accord Fintech
Banking issues hindering growth of e-commerce exports from India : GTRI report
News By Tags | #RBI #Economy #Ecommerce #GTRI

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The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in its report has said that banking issues like reluctance to process forex received through alternate channels and high processing fees are hindering the growth of e-commerce exports from India, and there is a need to bring mindset change to unlock the sector's potential. Unlocking India's e-commerce export potential to $350 billion by 2030 requires addressing banking issues that hinder growth and increase operational costs.

To initiate change, the report said both the RBI and banks must shift their mindset towards treating small-value exports differently from larger ones. This shift is essential to prevent misuse while streamlining processes. Without this fundamental change, any reforms attempted by the RBI and banks will fall short. Small e-commerce businesses often face challenges because banks are not equipped to handle low-value transactions efficiently. The key issues include reluctance to process forex through alternate channels, high processing fees, incorrect purpose code allocation, and limitations in the RBI's EDPMS (Export Data Processing and Monitoring System).

The report further suggested eight action points, such as the creation of a single window platform for e-commerce and small-value shipments, standardise bank charges, defining a time limit for banks to complete all small export-related requests by the RBI, and exempting shipment value up to $1,000 per shipment from monitoring till the single window is implemented. It also pitched for an extension of the timeline for EDPMS closure from the current nine months to 24 months and redesign the courier shipping bill to reflect correct payment terms.