India well positioned for seamless cross-border paperless trade: Experts
New Delhi, June 13
India has emerged as one of the frontrunners in trade digitalisation and is well positioned to advance towards seamless cross-border paperless trade, according to policymakers, industry leaders and trade experts.
The assessment emerged during a high-level session on India's Trade Digitalisation: From Domestic to Cross-Border Integration at the Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum x Paperless Trade Week (APTFF x PTW) 2026 in Bangkok.
The event -- which was organised by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UN-ESCAP -- focused on leveraging India's digital trade infrastructure to strengthen regional integration and facilitate cross-border paperless trade.
In addition, participants noted that paperless trade has evolved from a trade facilitation tool into a strategic necessity amid geopolitical uncertainties, rising logistics costs and increasing compliance requirements.
India has already achieved full implementation of domestic paperless trade measures, while its performance in cross-border paperless trade has improved significantly over the past decade, the experts said.
Platforms such as ICEGATE, SWIFT, faceless customs assessment and the proposed BharatTradeNet were highlighted as examples of India's growing digital trade capabilities and readiness for deeper regional interoperability.
During the event, ICRIER, RIS and the Centre for WTO Studies jointly released a policy brief titled "India's Drive Towards Paperless Trade: Recent Developments and the Way Forward".
The study concluded that India possesses much of the digital infrastructure and institutional framework required for accession to the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (CPTA), which could help reduce trade costs and strengthen regional integration.
Moreover, participants highlighted the importance of the proposed Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026, which is expected to provide legal recognition to electronic trade documents and align India's regulatory framework with international standards.
Experts further stressed the need to improve interoperability with partner countries, undertake pilot projects on cross-border paperless trade, expand capacity-building initiatives and strengthen support for MSMEs through digital trade platforms and simplified compliance procedures.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Finally some concrete steps towards paperless trade! The Trade Facilitation Bill 2026 sounds promising. I work in logistics and the amount of paperwork that still needs to be physically signed is insane. This will save crores in time and money.
Impressive to see India pushing ahead on digital trade infrastructure. But I wonder about data sovereignty concerns - when we share electronic trade documents across borders, who controls the data? Hope the government has strong data protection frameworks in place alongside these digital initiatives.
As someone who deals with export documentation daily, this is music to my ears! 😊 The sheer volume of physical paperwork for customs clearance is a nightmare. If BharatTradeNet works as promised, it could transform how we do business. But please - make sure the pilot projects include tier-2 cities like Pune and Ahmedabad, not just Mumbai and Delhi. Real change happens when it reaches the grassroots.
Interesting development. Paperless trade is indeed becoming a strategic necessity with global supply chain disruptions. But India's implementation will be the real test - our bureaucracy has a way of complicating simple things. Hope this time it's different and we actually achieve the seamless integration being promised.
Good to see ICRIER and RIS working on this. The CPTA framework is exactly what Asia-Pacific needs for smoother trade. But one concern - what about power cuts and internet connectivity in smaller towns? We need robust offline fallback options. Digital is great, but we can't leave anyone behind.
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