What is the Indian Business Portal? A New B2B Digital Marketplace for Exporters, Foreign Buyers

Posted by Written by Melissa Cyrill Reading Time: 5 minutes

Launched on May 27, the Indian Business Portal is a business-to-business (B2B) platform that connects Indian exporters with foreign buyers. The portal will enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs), artisans, and farmers identify new markets for their products and grow their global sales.

The Indian Business Portal (https://www.indianbusinessportal.in/) has been designed by the Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) in partnership with GlobalLinker, and is part of the government’s efforts to promote commercial enterprise in the country and boost local export-oriented production (Make in India).

The portal is also an outcome of the Indian government’s focus on paperless and automated processing systems that simplifies procedures for trade players, facilitates the online data exchange between respective ministerial departments, generates acknowledgements, and enables digital payments.

What is the FIEO?

The FIEO represents Indian entrepreneurs and traders in foreign markets and is under the Ministry of Commerce. It is the apex body of the government-recognized Export Promotion Councils (EPCs).

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FIEO provides the interface between Indian traders and central and state governments, financial institutions, ports, railways, and surface transport in all activities associated with the facilitation of export trade.

The Federation directly and indirectly serves the interests of over 200,000 exporters from every industry and service sector in India.

Ambition to accelerate India’s export trade growth

Setting up the portal is also aligned with the Indian government’s concerted push to expand export trade.

India’s overall service and merchandise exports touched US$676.2 billion in the financial year 2021-22 as both sectors hit record high exports. India’s overall exports were US$526.6 billion and US$497.9 billion in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. India’s merchandise exports reached US$421.8 billion – showing an increase of 44.6 percent and 34.6 percent over 2020-21 and 2019-20, respectively.

Major commodity exports that recorded positive growth during FY22 (April 2021-March 2022) over FY21 (April 2020-March 2021) are petroleum products (152.1%), cotton yarn/fabrics/madeups, handloom products etc. (55.1%), other cereals (52.2%), gems and jewelry (49.6%), man-made yarn/fabs/madeups etc.( 46.9%), engineering goods (45.5%), coffee (49%), electronic goods (40.5%), jute manufactures, including floor covering (36.2%), leather and leather manufactures (32.2%), organic & inorganic chemical (32.0%), plastic and linoleum (31.1%), marine products (30.0%), readymade garments of all textiles (29.9%), handicrafts excluding handmade carpet (22.0%), and cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items (21.9%).

India also witnessed growth in merchandise exports to developed countries and new markets. Exports to the US, UAE, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, Belgium, and Germany during April 2021 to March 2022 grew by 46.4%, 66.9%, 64.5%, 90.5%, 26.8%, 7.8%, 28%, 90.4%, and 21.1%, respectively, over April 2020-March 2021. The US also became India’s top trade partner in 2021-22 as Indian exports increased to US$76.11 billion in 2021-22 from US$51.62 billion in 2020-21. India also enjoys a rare trade surplus in the case with the US – recording a surplus worth US$32.8 billion in 2021-22.

Main objectives of the 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 and services
  • Encouraging virtual meetings between buyers and sellers
  • Providing a trusted network of Indian exporters to foreign buyers

Key functions of the Indian Business Portal

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

Business meetings: Facility provided to create buyer and seller meetings as well as the option for overseas consumers to directly buy from artisans and exporters who offer smaller quantities of their products.

Geographical Indication (GI) products: Features Indian artisans, farmers, and producers dealing in over 370 Indian Geographical Indication (GI) categories. The portal has helped them digitize their catalogues and showcase their unique offerings. As per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the GI sign indicates that the products have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

How the Indian Business Portal enables efficient sourcing and procurement from India

The Indian Business Portal serves as an exclusive marketplace for exporters registered in India and provides facility to sell on the platform and buy from Indian exporters. Thus, relevant partners and trade stakeholders are integrated within its digital ecosystem.

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Users of the portal can get quotations and list products with relative ease. The search function allows users to search for products, supplier name, and ITC-HSN.

Price shown in currency other than INR currency are indicative and meant for representation of the possible amount equivalent to the INR price of the product. The actual amount that will be charged into the buyer’s card or bank account may differ from the product value mentioned on the website – depending on the prevailing rate of exchange at the time of purchase and the terms and condition as applicable by the buyer’s bank.

For its pilot launch, more than 2000 SMEs joined the Indian Business Portal, listing over 40,000 products and services. There are currently more than 14,000 SMEs registered on the platform.

Over 50 categories of products and services are currently listed on the portal as indicated below:

Agriculture

  • Agricultural growing media
  • Animal products
  • Beans

Automotive and motors

  • Powersport vehicles
  • Automotive tools and supplies
  • Boats

Beauty and personal care

  • Baby care
  • Hair extension wigs
  • Makeup tools

Business services

  • Advertising
  • Agency services
  • Business travel services

Chemicals

  • Paints coatings
  • Fertilizer
  • Basic organic chemicals

Computer hardware and software

  • Laptop accessories
  • Monitors
  • Mouse keyboards

Construction and real estate

  • Bathroom
  • Boards
  • Ceilings

Consumer electronics

  • Cameras and photo
  • Accessories parts
  • Camera photo accessories

Electrical equipment supplies

  • Wires cables cable assemblies
  • Wiring accessories
  • Active components

Energy

Environment

  • Recycling

Fashion accessories and footwear

  • Scarves shawls
  • Hair accessories
  • Ties accessories

Food and beverage

  • Canned food
  • Honey products
  • Seafood

Furniture

  • Antique furniture
  • Baby furniture
  • Bamboo furniture

Gifts and decorations

  • Holiday gifts
  • Home decoration
  • Paper crafts

Hardware

  • Building supplies
  • General hardware
  • Sanitary ware and plumbing

Health and medical

  • General assay diagnostic apparatuses
  • Medical consumable
  • Physical therapy equipment

Home and garden

  • Surveillance and smart home electronics
  • Cooking tools
  • Yard garden and outdoor living items

Home appliances

  • Cooking appliances
  • Air conditioning appliances
  • Cleaning appliances

Industrial parts and fabrication services

  • Linear motion
  • Machine tools accessory
  • Motor parts

Lights, LED, and optoelectronics

  • Optoelectronics
  • LED outdoor lighting
  • Stage lights

Luggage, bags, and cases

  • Business bags cases
  • Digital gear camera bags
  • Handbags messenger bags

Machinery

  • Energy mineral equipment
  • Engineering construction machinery
  • Food beverage machinery

Measurement and analysis instruments

  • Analyzers
  • Electrical instruments
  • Electronic measuring instruments

Mobile electronics

  • AR/VR
  • Smartphones
  • Tablets

Minerals and metallurgy

  • Wire mesh
  • Aluminum
  • Titanium

Office and school supplies

  • Office binding supplies
  • Office cutting supplies
  • Office equipment

Packaging and printing

  • Adhesive tape
  • Agricultural packaging
  • Apparel packaging

Rubber and plastics

  • Plastic products
  • Plastic raw materials
  • Rubber products

Security and protection

  • Police military supplies
  • CCTV products
  • Workplace safety supplies

Service equipment

  • Advertising equipment
  • Financial equipment
  • Restaurant hotel supplies

Shoes and footwear accessories

  • Dance shoes
  • Men’s shoes
  • Shoe materials

Smart living electronics

  • Security products
  • Smart home
  • LED lighting

Sports and entertainment

  • Cycling
  • Hunting
  • Swimming, diving

Sporting goods

  • Fitness, running, and yoga
  • Equestrian sports

Telecommunication

  • Communication equipment
  • Telephones accessories

Timepieces, jewelry, and eyewear

  • Eyewear
  • Jewelry
  • Watches

Tools

  • Construction tools
  • Garden tools
  • Hand tools

Toys and hobbies

  • Action figures
  • Radio control and control line
  • Games

Transportation

  • Aircraft
  • Aviation accessories
  • Bicycle

Books, movies, and music

  • Musical instruments and gear
  • DVDs and Blu-ray discs
  • Film stock

Collectibles and art

  • Collectibles
  • Sports memorabilia, fan shop, and sports cards
  • Coins and paper money

Business and industrial

  • Healthcare, lab, and dental
  • CNC, metalworking, and manufacturing
  • Test, measurement, and inspection

Entertainment and recreational services

  • Recreational, cultural, and sporting services

Transport services

  • Maritime transport services
  • Internal waterways transport
  • Air transport services

Communication services

  • Postal and courier services
  • Telecommunication services
  • Audiovisual services

Construction and related engineering services

  • Construction services
  • Installation services
  • Other construction and engineering services

Financial services

  • All insurance and insurance related services
  • Banking and other financial

Health-related and social services

  • Medical and social services

Tourism and travel related services

  • Hospitality services

Education and environmental services

  • Educational services
  • Environmental services

Distribution and wholesale services

  • Distribution services

About Us

India Briefing is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in Delhi and Mumbai. Readers may write to india@dezshira.com for more support on doing business in in India.

We also maintain offices or have alliance partners assisting foreign investors in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Germany, and the United States, in addition to practices in Bangladesh and Russia.