Digitization can help India become a major F&B exporter

Digitisation can help India become a major F&B exporter

Digitization can be leveraged to boost export prospects for the Indian F&B industry, with the rise of e-commerce, promising B2B platforms and enhanced ease of business.

Digitalization in India is becoming more effective economically with a lot of cheaper and efficient solutions that will help propel India to the forefront of the global supply chain. With great farsightedness, the government has been working on ensuring transparency through digitalization. The entire GST system now works digitally and affords more control to the government on the economical front.

On the industrial front, a lot of payment systems have now become digitalized, like SWIFT, Fedwire and TTs, thus allowing international banking transactions to happen with a lot more ease. Payment acceptance is now happening in multiple currencies where earlier, it was more or less dependent entirely on the US dollar.

This has helped de-risk businesses a lot from the fluctuation of foreign currencies, thus allowing a far more stable business. On the logistics front, implementation of RFID with containers, which has ensured complete end-to-end traceability across the globe has been another important step.

Modes of outreach to clients and customers are also becoming increasingly digitalized. Virtual exhibitions, like what TPCI does, have allowed Indian companies to reach out to a lot more overseas audiences and vice versa, helping ensure seamless exports during the pandemic. This has now become a new normal. Communication and integration of services being offered to importers are better; and hence trade is becoming better.

Coming to the F&B sector in particular, India’s massive biodiversity enhances the potential for unique value added exports like saffron and many GI-tagged products. This also means minimal competition from a global perspective. Numerous specialized bodies created by the government, like Spices Board, Cashew Board, Coir Board, Coffee Board, have made a lot of their processes digitalized. But since India is greatly diversified geographically and product-wise too, the different Boards have different requirements. This must be addressed.

Ease of business can be greatly increased through a system, where data filing & submission is done at one source and passed on to Banks, Customs Department & others in a single take, instead of individually. This will help startups and the younger business community, which is where innovations are happening right now.

Creation of a B2B platform, which rates or gives categories to the companies and exporters will make the sector more organized and ensure that greater quality products are being sent into the export market. It will also help global buyers to assess Indian suppliers in the correct manner.

A single window approach where all queries of manufacturers are answered clearly is the need of the hour. Using chat bots to solve basic questions for startups will help provide clarity at single window level. The earlier physical application submission is now no longer required. Few states have implemented this successfully, thus helping companies to register quickly and easily, & start business domestically or internationally.

At the domestic business level also, especially on issues related to compliance and fulfilment of labour laws or FSSAI license, going digital is highly required and recommended. Domestic digitization can enhance export business by bringing in greater traceability of raw materials. If a system is built to guarantee traceability right from the farm to the customers, a lot of issues that occurred in the past can be avoided.

India can prove to be a much stronger global food supplier. Live dashboards to track payments, factory status, sales status etc. need to be adopted. Not only from the perspective of an organized branded export house, but also from the perspective of a bulk wholesale supplier, aggressive implementation of digitalization will play a vital role.

Some non-changeable aspects in the Indian agro ecosystem like diversified agro climatic zones and vast biodiversity are strengths to be played up. Startup India has put forth many novel and creative businesses, thus enhancing India’s potential to be a strongly export oriented economy. E-commerce and great B2B platforms will allow businesses to bridge gaps and trade to grow at large. In the next 5-10 years, a very aggressive growth on the export front for Indian manufacturing is a given.

Anand Rajkumar Chordia Director (Technology and Innovation), Pravin Masalewale (Suhana), and Founder, The Eco Factory Foundation