Indian exporters manufacturing jewellery, leather goods, garments and traditional handicrafts should wake up to an export opportunity worth billions of dollars that presents itself on just one day (November 11) in China every year. This day is celebrated as the Singles’/ Bachelors’ Day, according to Vikram Narayan , Country Manager & Managing Director of PayPal.

The India head of the online payment gateway service provider says small and medium sized exporters should keep an eye on not just sales on Valentine’s Day, Christmas and New Year, but also events closer home, such as Singles’ Day.

In an interview to BusinessLine , Vikram outlined why online is the way to go for small and medium Indian enterprises to sell overseas, how they can reach out to customers across the world, the safe and secure way to buy and sell online and PayPal’s role in India.

Excerpts:

How would you describe PayPal?

We are working with small and medium enterprises in India so that they can export globally to our 152 million customers through online marketplaces in a safe and secure manner. We provide exporters the tools and the information on what to sell, which markets to sell in, trade corridors and current global trends. We are contributing to cross-border trade. For example, in Dharavi (Mumbai), Asia’s largest slum, where many residents run small enterprises from their homes, one of our customers is an eBay seller, exporting customised garments globally. Over the last two years, this customer has exported to 30 countries.

Because we enable SME exporters to sell through an online platform, it helps them cut down on commissions to intermediaries and improves margins. The RBI increased the limit per online export transaction to $10,000 in July 2013, from $3,000.

We facilitate global ecommerce in a safe and secure manner. You can visit our web portal and enrol within five minutes on submission of simple documents — PAN card details, purpose for which money is being received (default purpose code), bank account details — you are on.

Today, if a buyer in Spain wants to purchase goods from a small seller in Bangalore through an online marketplace, the former would hesitate to disclose his credit card details online. But with PayPal you don’t have to share credit card details. All that the buyer needs to do is click on the PayPal option, login with an email ID linked to the PayPal account and key in the password. So, though the buyer’s credit card details are not revealed to the merchant, the transaction is put through. The sale proceeds will reach the exporters through banking channels.

What challenges are Indian exporters up against?

There are two aspects to cross-border trade intermediation. How does a small exporter find which markets to export to? What are the significant days he should target for exports? For example, everybody knows about Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and so on. But does anybody know that Singles’ Day sees $8 billion of sales in China? So, with such information — which corridors to sell through, what are the gift-giving customs in a particular country, which shipping tools to use, etc — we launched in June via Paypal Passport.

We reach out to customers through emails. Essentially, we provide end-to-end services, not only in payments but also a lot of other best practices. We educate sellers on how to exploit cross-border opportunities, how to optimise their websites, where to sell, and how to position their products.

The second challenge faced by exporters is how to sell safely. We have seller protection for all eligible sellers in India. For example, if a buyer complains that an item did not arrive, PayPal can protect the seller for the full amount, provided the transaction is an eligible one.

Also, if a sale is carried out through a fraudulent/ stolen credit card, we protect the seller against that. So, we are also a risk-management company. We ensure that sellers can export in a safe manner.

How do you assure exporters that they will receive money for their sales?

We work in a closed loop system — both the buyer and the seller are PayPal registered customers. So, we control both ends of the transaction. We know both sides very well.

We have been in this business for 20 years and have developed a lot of analytics and understanding. We understand the global payment ecosystem very well. This enables us to identify potentially fraudulent transactions and take appropriate measures to reduce risks.

Even if it (a fraudulent transaction) happens, we stand behind the sellers as well as the buyers to protect them. Today, PayPal offers seller protection to buyers globally and to sellers in India. If a buyer says the goods are not as described and gets in touch with our call centre and provides feedback, we will compensate the buyer.

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