New Delhi, Sep 28 (Mayank Nigam) In what could help small exporters and start-ups scale up and explore new markets, the government is working on plans to anonymise exports data and share them with the industry. Sharing of data such as quality and quantity of various items, export destination, mode of shipment and product description could level the field for small firms which do not have access to this information unlike big corporates. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is in discussion with the Department of Revenue and Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) to see how the data can be shared with various stakeholders. “Mr (Amit) Yadav, the DGFT, tells me that they are already in dialogue with the Department of Revenue and with the DGCI&S (Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics) to see how we can anonymise data so that any private information is not coming out, for example, pricing or the name of exporter or manufacturer,” said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
“I think we will have to just ensure that whatever data is private does not come out. But anonymised, aggregated data should be available to encourage other people who want to come into that line of business, to encourage states to promote certain businesses which they will find or having potential in the world,” he said at an event organised by industry body FIEO. Industry insiders said that several agencies currently offer exports related data for a price. They source the information from Customs department through informal channels and then sell them to exporters especially large ones. An exporter said that his firm keeps getting offers from such agencies for taking services on monthly, quarterly and yearly subscription basis. “For a few thousand rupees, monthly subscription is available. They provide you names of the shippers, country of exports, mode of shipping, port of destination, telephone numbers of both suppliers and buyers etc,” he said.
Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) President Animesh Saxena said he would appreciate if government can share such data. “It will be very beneficial for small exporters and start-ups,” he said adding that consolidated export data currently comes with certain time lag. Sharad Kumar Saraf, Former President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and Chairman, Technocraft Industries (India) Ltd also welcomed the proposed move saying that readily available data would be very good for exporters. Data is certainly the new oil which now fuels business decision-making. Given that businesses can take targeted and timely action with the help of data, it has now become the most essential input for any decision-making. “Wise decision is very important particularly when it comes to exports because the questions are when to export, where to export, how much to export, how much to hold back, how much to hedge etc. So there are a lot of decision points where data is necessary and this goes mainly for many of the commodities that we export,” noted Bangalore-based brand strategist Harish Bijoor.