The Role of ICT in Facilitating India's External Trade

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a review of how the role of information and communication technology (ICT) has extended in trade facilitation during the post reforms regime in India and to pinpoint the key issues that deserve attention of policy makers to exploit the opportunities provided by ICT.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper follows an exploratory approach and provides a framework of the historical and current practices of ICT used to facilitate trade in India. The study employs secondary sources such as Economic Surveys of Government of India, Various Trade Policy Documents by Ministry of Commerce and Trade, Trade Policy Reviews of World Trade Organizations, World Trade Indicators by World Bank, various specialised journals, and internet search engines.

Findings: The paper concludes that the role of ICT is crucial in facilitating trade, so there is a need to strengthen ICT infrastructure in the country along with simplification of documentation process and custom procedures. Creating awareness about ICT benefits among traders and providing incentives to them to use ICT within their business practice is also need of the hour.

Originality/value: Despite the growing importance of ICT during the post reforms regime its use in facilitating trade is low in India. This paper examines this issue and develops an argument to focus more on ICT practices in trade facilitation.