'Embracing tech & e-commerce will be integral to unlocking India’s exports potential'

Exports are a key driver to boost our economy, generate employment and provide bigger markets for growing companies. It’s no wonder our Hon’ble Prime Minister has stressed the need to boost exports from India and highlighted its importance to revive our economy in the post-pandemic world. For the first time in history, India has breached the $400 billion mark in annual merchandise exports in FY 21-22 and this has been made possible due to the unwavering commitment of multiple stakeholders. As India moves towards the path of becoming an exports superpower, I strongly believe that embracing technology and e-commerce will be integral to unlocking India’s exports potential and helping us realize our vision of being a $5 trillion economy.

Every day at Amazon, we see how technology and e-commerce are helping lower the entry barrier for lakhs of MSMEs and entrepreneurs to expand their horizons and serve customers across India and the world. Our e-commerce exports program, Global Selling, launched in 2015, has quickly grown to over one lakh exporters – including marquee Indian businesses as well as digital-first brands. It has been truly humbling to see thousands of first-generation entrepreneurs from all corners of India embrace technology to take their passion, expertise, and millions of Made in India products to customers across the world.

To give you an example, Abhishek Middha, a Jaipur-based college student, launched a tapestry business in 2012 from the basement of his house. He was amongst the first Indian exporters from India to join Amazon Global Selling. With his business flourishing, Abhishek set up AND Exports and has now ventured into other categories like Home Decor and Leather Goods. Despite the challenges over the last couple of years, AND Exports has grown over 3X YoY while serving customers across the USA, Canada and Europe. What strikes me most about Abhishek, isn’t the success that he has already achieved, but his optimism to grow. He plans to expand operations to more global markets and double the size of his 40-member team by the end of 2022.

The rapid pace of technology adoption around us reinforces our belief that digitization will play a crucial role in driving non-linear growth in India’s exports. E-commerce provides an easy and rapidly scalable route for Indian MSMEs to build robust global brands and businesses, thereby creating employment opportunities in the ecosystem. A laser-sharp focus on empowering Indian MSMEs to leverage e-commerce and drive exports can help us contribute to the Hon’ble PM’s vision of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and support the rise of global D2C brands from India.

With digital adoption on the rise, and modern manufacturing processes in place, India is well placed to emerge as an export hub. At our end, we are super excited by the momentum Amazon Global Selling is witnessing; the exporters on the program are on track to surpass the $5 billion milestone in cumulative exports. Importantly, the program took 3 years to enable the first billion dollars in exports, while the last 2 billion have come in just 17 months. Encouraged by this momentum, the rapid adoption of e-commerce as a medium for exports and growing demand for Made in India products across the world, we are doubling down on our commitment to boost exports and raising our pledge to now enable $20 billion in cumulative exports from India by 2025.

I have no doubt that it is still Day 1!