The government on Friday said inter-ministerial consultations are being held to finalise the national e-commerce policy, a move aimed at promoting growth of the sector.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said a draft of national e-commerce policy has been prepared after detailed public consultations and valuable suggestions have been received from many stakeholders.
“Inter-ministerial consultations are being held to finalise the national e-commerce policy,” he said.
In another reply on special economic zones, he said a total of 336 units exited during the past three years and the reason for such winding of operations includes variations in international market conditions, slowdown of orders, merger of units, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, these zones have touched new heights in terms of performance in exports, investment and employment, the minister added.
“Exports of Rs. 22,840 crore in 2005-06 has increased to Rs 7,59,524 crore in 2020- 21; investment of Rs 4,035.51 crore in 2005-06 has increased to Rs 6,17,499 crore (cumulative basis) by 2020-21 and employment provided to 1,34,704 persons in 2005-06 has increased to 23,58,136 persons (cumulative basis) in 2020-21,” he said.
He added that there is no provision to grant additional fiscal incentives at present.
In a separate reply, Parkash said imports from Hong Kong have been on a declining trend in the past two years, and India’s imports from China have also been dipping for the past four years.
“There is, thus, a combined drop in our imports from China and Hong Kong in 2019-20, and 2020-21, when compared with 2018-19,” he said.
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Exports and imports during 2020-21 from Hong Kong were USD 10.16 billion and USD 15.17 billion, respectively. India’s bilateral trade with Hong Kong has dipped to USD 25.33 billion in 2020-21 from USD 27.9 billion in the previous fiscal.
Exports and imports during 2020-21 from China were USD 21.18 billion and USD 65.21 billion, respectively. India’s bilateral trade with China has increased to USD 86.4 billion in 2020-21 from USD 81.8 billion in the previous fiscal.
