The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the global logistics service provider, DHL, to make the Indian MSMEs export-ready.
The MoU will cover 76 districts in three phases, to conduct capacity-building sessions, training, and workshops.
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DGFT and DHL aim to bring together a team of knowledge experts to assist Indian exporters/MSMEs in the identified districts through handholding sessions and develop a start-up kit for first-time Exporters/MSMEs wanting to go global.
During the MoU signing event, Sunil Barthwal, Commerce Secretary, highlighted the importance of e-Commerce ecosystem, and pointed out the strides taken by India to create a digital infrastructure which can be leveraged to encourage MSMEs from rural India to connect to the world market.
He also pointed out the recent initiative of Bharat Mart and how such warehousing initiative would further India’s foreign trade.
Looking forward to this partnership, John Pearson, Global CEO of DHL Express emphasized that DHL is the first international express operator to sign a MoU with the DGFT.
“This partnership with the Government of India will further solidify DHL’s commitment to India and aligns with DHL’s Go Trade program to empower MSMEs in the global market,” he said.
Notably, the DGFT has been actively engaging in boosting e-commerce exports from the country, leveraging its ‘District as Export Hubs’ initiative.
While welcoming the partnership, Santosh Sarangi, DG, DGFT highlighted that the objective of this collaboration is to introduce exporters/MSMEs to the digital commerce space so that they get an opportunity to export “Make in India” products, tap international customers and overcome the challenges related to logistics while exporting through the e-commerce route.
It is worth highlighting that the DGFT has been actively engaging in boosting e-commerce exports from the country, leveraging its ‘District as Export Hubs’ initiative.
