These designated areas would act as centres for favourable business infrastructure and facilities for cross border e-commerce activities.

The aim is to offer predictability and shortest possible turnaround time for e-commerce exports, easy re-import for e-commerce returns or rejections and bringing various cross-border e-commerce stakeholders under one roof.

The hubs can also have warehousing facilities, customs clearance, returns processing, labelling, testing and repackaging.

Small producers will be facilitated through these hubs to sell to aggregators, who will find markets to sell. Export goods that have immense e-commerce potential include jewellery, apparel and handicrafts.

A DGFT trade notice said further details, including software requirements for ECEH, to facilitate seamless and expeditious export clearances, will be firmed up based on the proposals.

Draft modalities for operation of these hubs have been formulated in this regard, and the government would like to initiate a pilot launch of ECEH based on that, it said.

The government has announced setting up of these hubs in the last union budget to promote exports through e-commerce medium in public-private partnership mode. There are plans to set up 10-15 such hubs initially.

The draft modalities mention about movement of goods from supplier's premises to ECEH; pre-screening of goods; design of these hubs; and process flow for customs clearance once a buyer is found.

ECEH will have two physical components: the fulfilment area for packing, labelling, storing to take place after pre-screening and till a buyer is found; and a customs station where the goods will be cleared after the buyer is found and would be ready for dispatch.

India's annual e-commerce exports now are worth $5 billion compared to China's $300 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)