Anupriya Patel Launches Indian Business Portal to Promote Indian GI Products

Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, launched the Indian Business Portal - An International Trade Hub for Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers here today. FIEO, in collaboration with GlobalLinker, created the "Indian Business Portal," an International Trade Hub for Indian Exporters and Foreign Buyers.

This is a B2B digital marketplace designed to help SME exporters, artisans, and farmers find new markets for their products and increase their global sales.

Anupriya Patel, who launched the portal, stated, "The Indian Business Portal addresses a number of elements that are part of the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision and a commitment of this government, such as digitising exporters, supporting MSME, and encouraging greater exports of products Made in India." During the pandemic, online platforms such as e-commerce demonstrated enormous potential in assisting millions of businesses to sustain themselves, according to the Minister.

Patel praised FIEO's initiative, saying that the 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 exports. She expressed hope that more exporters would participate in the Indian Business Portal and provide valuable feedback to FIEO. Patel also stated that now is the best time for young entrepreneurs to start businesses and exports.

According to Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, Government of India, technology-enabled governance will be critical in determining India's growth and competitiveness. The government is concentrating on paperless, automated processing systems, simple procedures for trade participants, online data exchange between departments, and digital payments and acknowledgements. He praised FIEO's efforts, saying that technological progress helps to develop the economy and strengthen Indian firms in a competitive global market.

Dr. A Sakthivel, President of FIEO, stated in his address that FIEO has been championing the cause of Indian exporters in the digital era. He went on to say that through a digital platform solution, FIEO could do much more for exporters and help boost India's export opportunities. Our SMEs are endowed with a wide range of skills, unique product portfolios, and diversity, he says.

According to Dr. Ajay Sahai, Director General and CEO of FIEO, the organization's vision is to focus on innovation in order to provide new and value-added services to exporters. "Over time, we will seek to build trade corridors with a number of countries in order for small businesses to trade efficiently through this partnership," he said. 

The platform will help to improve India's trade links with international markets. The product mix on the portal is diverse, including Consumer & Lifestyle Products, Industrial Products, Business Services, and Geographical Indication (GI) products. This portal is particularly valuable for artisans' and farmers' products dealing in Indian GI and handicrafts. According to him, India has approximately 370 GI-certified products in various categories.

"FIEO is helping businesses navigate international market opportunities through its wide range of progressive initiatives," Sameer Vakil, Co-founder & CEO of GlobalLinker. He stated that FIEO's domain expertise, in conjunction with its partnership with GlobalLinker, has resulted in 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.

Khalid Khan, Vice President, FIEO, proposed a vote of thanks and asked participants to provide feedback/suggestions to continually improve the portal with new features and make it more valuable to the industry.

Strategic Objectives of Indian Business Portal:

• Digitizing Indian Exporters and assisting them in becoming more visible online

• Increasing exports from all Indian states

• Demonstrating India's strength in a diverse range of products and services

• Promoting virtual meetings between buyers and sellers

• Providing a reliable network of Indian exporters to foreign buyers