From needles to vehicles, Indian exporters will sell their products to overseas vendors online soon!

Soon, Indian exporters and manufacturers will be able to sell their products to vendors across the globe as the country is planning to open up a B2B e-commerce portal.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, India wants to open an online marketplace for exports based on Alibaba model.

This move will not only add value and brand but will also open windows from Indian exporters to trade from different nations, making India a sourcing hub as well.

Alibaba’s model works on a simple concept, it is a platform for global wholesale trade through which manufacturers and distributors can sell their products to companies in other countries.

The online platform is being built by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust set up by the commerce department.

"Though we are still working on the modalities such as payment mechanism and insurance, the overall sentiment for the project from all departments concerned, is positive. The IBEF intends to launch this business-to-business portal with at least one lakh sellers and plans to scale it up to 5 lakh over time,” an official told ET.

It is likely that the online marketplace will tie up with India Post for exports.

Reportedly, India's exports have been declining for the last 11 months due to major competition in a weak global economy making it difficult to achieve the targeted $300 billion from exports in 2015-16.