Anupriya Patel Launches Indian Business Portal - E-commerce Marketplace FIEO-Global Linkers

· Portal has a diverse product mix i.e Consumer & Lifestyle Products, Industrial Products, Business Services and Geographical Indication (GI) products.

· India has about 370 GI-certified products across various categories.

· Sameer Vakil, Co-founder & CEO, GlobalLinker

· Mr Khalid Khan, Vice President, FIEO requested the participants to give feedback/suggestion.

· 14000+ SMEs are registered on the FIEO GlobalLinker platform and of those 2000+ have already joined with over 40,000+products and services listed on Indian Business Portal for the pilot before launch.

Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Smt. Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal - An International Trade Hub for Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers here today. FIEO in partnership with GlobalLinker, has designed and developed the “Indian Business Portal”, an International Trade Hub for Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers. This is a B2B digital marketplace to empower SME exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.

Launching the portal Smt. Anupriya Patel said, “Indian Business Portal addresses a number of elements which are part of the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and a commitment of this government like digitizing exporters, supporting MSME and encouraging greater exports of products Made in India”. The Minister mentioned that during the pandemic online platforms such as e-commerce have shown immense potential in supporting millions of businesses to sustain themselves.

She further mentioned that this initiative has come at very appropriate time as currently Indian exports are witnessing robust growth. India’s overall exports (i.e. Services and Merchandise) touched USD 676.2 Billion in financial year 2021-2022 as both Services and Merchandise hit record high exports in financial year 2021-2022. India’s overall exports were USD 526.6 Billion and USD 497.9 Billion in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. The Minister further informed that India’s Merchandise exports had crossed USD 400 Billion milestone in Financial Year 2021-2022 and stood at USD 421.8 Billion which is a phenomenal increase of 44.6 percent and 34.6 percent over 2020-21 and 2019-20 respectively.

Lauding the initiative of FIEO, Smt. Patel said that Indian Business Portal will be a big encouragement to Indian Startups, SMEs, Artisans & Farmers (GI Products), and Service providers to take their first step toward the exports. She expressed hope that more exporters will engage on the Indian Business Portal and would provide their valued feedback to FIEO. Smt Patel also mentioned that this is the most opportune time for the young entrepreneurs to get into business and exports.

Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, Govt. of India said tech-enabled governance will play a key role in determining India’s growth and competitiveness. The government is focused on paperless, automated processing systems, simple procedures for trade players, online data exchange between departments, digital payments & acknowledgements. Lauding the efforts of FIEO, he said that Progress in technology helps develop the economy and strengthen Indian firms in the competitive global market.

In his address, Dr. A Sakthivel, President FIEO said that FIEO has been championing the cause of Indian exporters and in a digital era. He further stated that FIEO could do much more for the exporters and help boost India’s export opportunities through a digital platform solution. Our SMEs are blessed with vast skills, unique product portfolios and diversity, he added.

Dr. Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO, FIEO stated that FIEO’s vision is to focus on innovation to provide new and value-added services to exporters. He said, “Over a period of time, we will seek to build trade corridors with a number of countries for small businesses to trade efficiently through this partnership. The platform will facilitate the enhancement of India's trade linkages for the International markets”. The portal has a diverse product mix i.e Consumer & Lifestyle Products, Industrial Products, Business Services and Geographical Indication (GI) products. This portal holds special value for artisans and farmers’ products dealing in Indian GI and handicraft products. India has about 370 GI-certified products across various categories, he added.

Sameer Vakil, Co-founder & CEO, GlobalLinker, said "FIEO is helping businesses navigate international market opportunities through its wide range of progressive initiatives. He said that FIEO’s domain expertise, combined with its partnership with GlobalLinker has led to the creation of the Indian Business Portal, where businesses ranging from artisans to women entrepreneurs and from farmers producing GI products to leading star export houses can create digital catalogues for the world to discover.

Proposing the vote of thanks Mr Khalid Khan, Vice President, FIEO requested the participants to give feedback/suggestion to continually enhance the portal with new features and make it more valuable for the industry.

About the Portal:

Indian Business Portal is the only such marketplace that is exclusive for exporters registered in India and is custom-built to support exporters with a range of bespoke features and relevant partners integrated to build this ecosystem.

Strategic objectives of Indian Business Portal:

· Digitizing Indian Exporters and help them become discoverable online

· Promoting exports from all Indian States

· Showcasing India’s strength in wide range of Products & Services

· Encouraging virtual meetings between buyers and sellers

· Providing a trusted network of Indian Exporters to Foreign Buyers

Ø 14000+ SMEs are registered on the FIEO GlobalLinker platform and of those 2000+ have already joined with over 40,000+products and services listed on Indian Business Portal for the pilot before launch.

Ø Global Visibility – FIEO will promote the marketplace worldwide to help Indian exporters, SMEs, artisans promote their products and services globally.

Ø Business Meetings - Facility to create buyer & seller meetings has been provided, and also the option for overseas consumers to directly buy from artisans and exporters who offer smaller quantities of their products.

Ø Geographical Indication (GI) products - A special focus has been dedicated to empowering Indian artisans, farmers, and producers dealing in over 370 Indian Geographical Indication (GI) Categories by helping them digitize their catalogues and showcase their unique offerings globally through Indian Business Portal.