- Renew MoU to focus on capacity building sessions and providing guidance on building a global business for small businesses in 47 key districts across the country
- The collaboration to focus on establishing of Export Communities as local offline networks for MSMEs.
- Amazon to integrate its Export Navigator tool within DGFT’s Trade Connect portal to enable small businesses and entrepreneurs to understand the export compliance requirements at each stage of their exports journey.
Kolkata: Amazon and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) today announced an extension of their collaboration to accelerate ecommerce exports from India. This builds on their initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2023, which aimed to leverage the government’s Districts as Export Hubs initiative to boost MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) exports. The renewed association will focus on equipping MSMEs across India with essential skills and resources to succeed in ecommerce exports. The MoU was renewed in the presence of Shri. Santosh Sarangi (Additional Secretary and Director General of DGFT), Chetan Krishnaswamy (Vice President, Public Policy – Amazon) and Bhupen Wakankar (Director Global Trade – Amazon India).
The expanded collaboration introduces several new initiatives to further bolster India’s ecommerce exports ecosystem. These include specialized training sessions across 47 districts, integration of Amazon’s Export Navigator tool within DGFT’s Trade Connect portal, and the establishment of Export Communities as local offline networks for MSMEs. The collaboration will leverage diverse event formats to provide guidance to MSMEs on expanding product selection and scaling export operations. By combining Amazon’s global reach and expertise in ecommerce exports with DGFT’s local expertise, this initiative aims to unlock new opportunities for Indian sellers in international markets, aligning with the government’s vision to boost exports and support local businesses.
In the first year of their association, DGFT and Amazon organized a series of ecommerce exports promotion events across 20 districts in India. These events, held between December 2023 and December 2024, saw Amazon representatives providing guidance to over 3,000 MSMEs about ecommerce exports and the process of selling on Amazon global marketplaces. Participants received on-spot assistance and real-time query resolution. Following these events, Amazon offered support to interested sellers, assisting them with the onboarding process and connecting them with trusted third-party service providers to help obtain necessary documents, meet compliance requirements, and get listing and advertising support.
Shri. Santosh Sarangi Additional Secretary and Director General of DGFT, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India said, “Our continued collaboration with Amazon is a significant step in realizing the vision of making each district an export hub. Building on our initial success, we are expanding our focus to 47 districts to support more MSMEs to access global markets. This partnership has already benefited over 3,000 MSMEs, and we are excited to see its growth. This aligns perfectly with our goal of enabling $200-300 billion in exports from India by 2030, showcasing the best of ‘Make in India’ to the world.”
Bhupen Wakankar, Director Global Trade at Amazon India said, “We are excited to extend our collaboration with the DGFT to support MSMEs and entrepreneurs across India to create robust global businesses and contribute to India’s overall exports. Our association since 2023 has shown promising results and we are looking forward to expanding our combined focus to 47 districts this year. Amazon’s focus remains on making exports simpler and more accessible to businesses of all sizes as we work toward our goal of enabling $80 billion in cumulative ecommerce exports from India by 2030.”
More about Exports Communities
The Export Communities will function as accessible, local offline networks designed for MSMEs who are either currently engaged in e-commerce exports or planning to venture into this space. The communities will serve a dual purpose: assist prospective exporters in initiating their e-commerce export journey while simultaneously helping existing sellers scale their export operations through comprehensive support including guidance, training, mentorship, and hands-on assistance. These will be developed under DGFT’s leadership, and each Export Community will have participation from multiple stakeholders including government agencies, third party service providers, manufacturers, existing and prospective e-commerce exporters, export bodies, and Amazon Global Selling.
More About Export Navigator
Recently, Amazon launched Export Navigator – a one-stop dashboard designed to help exporters understand, manage, and comply with regulatory requirements at both origin (India) and destination markets. It is part of Amazon’s efforts to simplify exports for small businesses and startups across India by addressing key pain points like cross-border compliance, logistics, and payments, among others. The dashboard is available to all Indian exporters irrespective of whether they are registered on Amazon or not. Amazon Export Navigator is currently live for exporters looking to ship products to the US and will soon be enabled for other global markets. For any successful exports business, it is critical to guide exporters on compliance requirements in India as well as foreign import requirements, and Export Navigator has been designed to guide exporters on compliance requirements in six areas: a) Export registration requirements such as Importer Exporter Code (IEC); b) Product certification and licenses; c) Taxation guidelines in India and destination countries; d) Shipping requirements across courier and cargo custom channels; e) Payment reconciliation of export proceeds and key documents such as the e-bank realization certificate; and f) Export incentives such as Duty Drawback, RoDTEP, etc., provided by the Government of India. It also provides them access to a curated network of third-party service providers that offer a range of support services with faster SLAs and better-than-market rates.
More about Districts as Export Hubs
The Districts as Export Hubs initiative constitutes a separate chapter in India’s Foreign Trade Policy and underscores the importance of harnessing the unique potential and diverse identity of each district, transforming them into export hubs. The Department of Commerce, through the DGFT collaborates directly with States/UTs and districts to establish institutional mechanisms for facilitating exports of identified products/services. This initiative focuses on boosting manufacturing and exports in urban areas while stimulating economic activity in rural districts. It establishes connections between local producers and global supply chains, addressing various facets of production.
More About Amazon Global Selling
Amazon Global Selling is a flagship ecommerce exports program that helps lower the entry barrier for Indian MSMEs and entrepreneurs to start or expand their exports business using ecommerce. The program was launched in India in 2015 to support Indian exporters reach customers worldwide through Amazon’s international websites and marketplaces. It provides an avenue for businesses of all sizes to build global brands. Today there are more than 1.50 lakh exporters on the program, showcasing millions of Made in India products to customers in 200+ countries and territories across the world. Together, they have clocked $13 billion in cumulative exports from India.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
