New Delhi, 04 September (H.S.): The Centre has amended the rules governing e-commerce exports, allowing inventory-based e-commerce models to hold goods in India exclusively for the purpose of exporting Indian-made products overseas. The decision, announced in July, came into effect on Friday.

The Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance has notified changes to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules. According to the notification, the department has amended the FDI framework to allow foreign-invested e-commerce companies to maintain inventory in India solely for the export of goods manufactured or produced in the country.

According to the Ministry of Finance, e-commerce companies will be permitted to stock goods manufactured or produced in India exclusively for export purposes. Under the amended rules, foreign-invested e-commerce companies can hold Indian-made goods in their inventory for export, but they will not be permitted to retain such inventory for retail sales within India.

The ministry said that through a notification issued on September 2, the department added a provision to the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, in this regard. Under the new provision, an e-commerce entity may adopt an inventory-based e-commerce model exclusively for exporting goods manufactured or produced in India, in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023, the Handbook of Procedures and the Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2015.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar