FIEO Knowledge Forum: Service providers key to enhance exports

Neha Dewan | @TheDollarBiz

Steven Philip Warner, Editor-in-Chief, The Dollar Business, speaking at the FIEO Knowledge Forum. Other Panelists – Vikas Jain, President, Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Second from Left); Lakshmi N. Sahu, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (Second from Right); and Sanchit Khanna, eBay India (Extreme right)

  The Dollar Business participated in the Knowledge Forum on “Enhancing Exports” conducted by the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) on September 5, 2014 in Gurgaon to highlight the role of service providers in minimising transaction cost and making exports competitive in the international business environment. Vikas Jain, President of Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) started the session, outlining the importance of major export categories such as engineering goods, textiles and petrochemicals from India. He highlighted how e-commerce can play a major role in enhancing exports, and emphasized on the necessity to have a well-defined roadmap regarding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to help businesses grow in India. Taking the idea of e-commerce further, Sanchit Khanna, Regional Manager, ebay India, spoke about the benefits of ecommerce led retail export. “There is reduction of transaction costs and access to a global consumer base. Besides this, one gets to build their own brand and identity online. Plus the elimination of intermediary channels makes this channel quite lucrative,” he said. “In short, great margins for the seller and fantastic deals for the buyer fall in place with the ecommerce route,” added Khanna. Inder Uberoi, Area Head, Transaction Banking Sales & Trade Product Management, Kotak Mahindra Bank made an in-depth presentation on the critical aspects of pre and post shipment export finance. Uberoi delved in detail on the aspects of credit availability to exporters during the various stages of shipment. Speaking about the role of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) in covering risks associated with exports, Lakshmi Narayan Sahu, Branch Manager, ECGC, Gurgaon, said that exporters are exposed to several risks such as commercial, political, transit-related and those related to currency fluctuations. Sahu suggested credit insurance as a business solution to increase sales and profits. “There are various advantages it brings such as protection against bad debt loss and helping in a better borrowing position with insured receivables which all lead to increased sales.” The insightful session was followed by Steven Philip Warner, Editor-in-Chief, The Dollar Business, who spoke about the significance of trade journals in export promotion. Explaining how a mainstream magazine that understands the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) makes things easier for the exporting community, he said that an information source that helps in making money from exports and imports is the need of the hour. He said, “Our vision is to become the foremost authority on foreign trade. One needs to be well informed of all aspects of the trade, and that’s where we come in.”