63% Indian exporters depend on digital to increase revenue: Survey

The Future of Business Survey - an ongoing collaboration between Facebook, the OECD and the World Bank – provides interesting insights on small businesses across the globe and in India. The survey was introduced to help businesses succeed by understanding the economic environments in which they operate and sharing these learnings with them – and to essentially share the challenges and opportunities that exist to help them grow. The March to May 2017 module examines the role and impact of online tools on the abilities of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) (global and India) to trade internationally and grow their businesses.

This version of the Future of Business Survey drew responses from 49,081 SMEs globally representing economies accounting for 40 per cent of the world’s population and 73per cent of the global GDP. To date, nearly 200,000 SMEs in more than 40 countries, drawn from the 70 million businesses with an active Facebook Page, have taken the survey. Out of the total SMEs surveyed, 1,301 Indian SMEs were surveyed for the international trade report (accumulated across three months, March-May, 2017).

The results indicate that many exporting SMEs are embracing online tools to connect with international customers. Online tools are increasingly becoming an important part of SMEs who seek such options to grow their businesses.

About 56 per cent of traders and non-traders are confident of their current business (globally: 44 per cent) with almost 3 in 4 SMEs (71 per cent) are confident in the positive future outlook of their business (globally: 61per cent). Traders operating internationally have created more jobs, as against those exclusively in the domestic however, Indian SMEs are assured and more likely to increase jobs (28 per cent) than the global average (19 per cent)

For exporting SMEs, trade is at the core of their business models and success as 49 per cent of these units generate 25 per cent of their revenue from international trade. 43 per cent of SMEs have reported that than 75 per cent of their international sales depend on online tools. Also, 63% of exporters agree that using online tools for selling internationally has increased their revenue. The survey also revealed that 67 per cent unit has male management. Lastly, about 50 per cent respondent agreed that international selling is a challenge.