Alibaba.com, the wholesale trading platform of China’s Alibaba Group, today unveiled its first physical trade facility centre in the country at Jaipur and a Hindi portal, aimed at connecting small and medium businesses with global buyers.
“We are excited about working with our Indian partners to provide comprehensive and dedicated trading solutions for local Indian sellers to explore more cross-border trading opportunities. Our ongoing efforts in India also showcase our long-term commitment to the market,” Alibaba.com Head Global Business Development Timothy Leung said in a statement.
By providing information and services in Hindi, the site will enable Indian traders, especially those from small cities and rural areas, to easily connect with merchants worldwide, he added.
He said the company will make Trade Assurance Programme available on the portal, providing a full set of protections for buyers in global trading.
Alibaba.com will refund the Indian merchants for the supplier if the supplier does not meet the shipping time or the quality of products fails to meet contract requirements.
Alibaba group’s B2B arm has said it aims to more than double user base in India over the next few years through on-boarding of over five million businesses on its wholesale trading platform.
Alibaba.Com, which connects buyers and wholesale suppliers globally, has 40 million users globally and 4.5 million users in India.
The company will offer a collateral-free SME finance support programme.
The logistics and credit services will be provided by Jeena and Capital Float, respectively, offering financing support to Indian SMEs in cross-border trading based on their historical trade information and credit profile, it said.
“Access to credit has always been a big bottleneck to the global ambitions of small Indian businesses. This new credit scheme can enable SMEs to break limits and set the stage for them to realize their true potential,” Capital Float CEO and founder Gaurav Hinduja said.
Going forward, Alibaba.com plans to open more such centres providing physical and online trade facilitation services in key cities and SME education centers in selected industry hubs.