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Govt determined to push up exports, to introduce E-commerce

The government plans to introduce electronic commerce in the service industry by January to upgrade India's export structure and potential.

Union Commerce Secretary P P Prabhu says India will not be able to increase exports unless quality development is achieved in the production of goods and in infrastructure.

As a beginning towards electronic commerce, all the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade offices, ports, export-related banks, and customs offices will be computerised by January, adhering to the demands of the competitive global market. "Singapore has already threatened that it will not accept paper money anymore," Prabhu pointed out.

The commerce secretary also cautioned exporters against having an incorrect impression that India's exports are growing swiftly. "While India's share of the global trade was 2.53 per cent at the time of Independence, it fell to 0.5 per cent and only recently has it inched up to 0.6 per cent," he said.

The only way to exploit India's export potential, he asserted, is to increase the foreign direct investment to the country with more investment in the export-oriented sector, which should also be combined with quality production, good infrastructure for the manufacturers, and removing procedural bottlenecks.

Giving figures, he pointed out that out of a total foreign direct investment worldwide of $ 349 billion in 1996, $ 129 billion was poured into developing countries. However, the FDI in India was hardly $ 2.6 billion compared to $ 42 billion in China. "It shows that we still cannot attract investors due to our weaknesses," Prabhu said.

The secretary warned against certain misconceptions. "We should not be under the notion that Indian exports in agro-allied products are on the rise. It is not even 15 per cent in our agriculture-based economy even 50 years after Independence. In fact, we may have to stop exporting rice due to a shortfall this year," he declared.

Prabhu urged the exporters to increase the export basket by being competitive and exporting high-quality products. He asked them not to concentrate on a few products, and pointed out that India lacks specialisation in any product except certain goods like Darjeeling tea or Basmati rice.