The Indian government frequently boasts of improvements in “ease of doing business”, but a recent redit of a frustrated entrepreneur has greatly disputed this story, highlighting the paralyzing bureaucracy involved in the export directly to international customers (B2C exports).
Easy to do business vs reality
In an article entitled “Why you should not try to export from India Vential & Rant”, the user of Reddit Limp-Question-4778 detailed his four-year test, declaring: “All the speech of ease of doing business is just to speak and not to walk. You would better move to Dubai and to export from there.”
The entrepreneur, from a small Indian village, first succeeded in the national level, managing between 300 and 400 daily orders. His problems started when international customers showed interest in 2022. The complicated requirements he was faced with obtaining an IEC certificate, registration on ICEGATE, securing an advertising code of the bank and compulsory shipping through approved letters – procedures which he described as “absurd for an export of $ 30”.
Punished by TPS twice for a rejected shipment
The situation has worsened when a client rejected a shipment, which prompted the Indian government to perceive the TPS twice, once for outgoing shipping and again for its return. “We had to pay the TPS twice on an expedition on which we have not won a penny,” he wrote, stressing how the punitive rules load small businesses.
Other complications arise from a document called CSB 5, a compulsory shipping invoice that exporters must keep. Due to poor integration between customs, TPS and RBI systems, in 2024, he discovered around 50 lakh of “open” shipping invoices. The closure of each has incurred costs of 400 ₹, totaling 8 Lakh, or 16% of their turnover. Unable to comply with the tight deadline, RBI marked its non -compliant account, freezing it and effectively putting its export operations.
Silence of the authorities despite repeated calls
In an frustrating way, repeated attempts to assist regulatory organizations remained unanswered. The entrepreneur has written repeatedly to RBI and even provided detailed diagrams explaining his situation at the office of the Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal, – only to receive silence in return.
ITC claims to trigger bureaucratic nightmares
Small businesses frequently avoid claiming an input tax credit (ITC) due to the fears to trigger an audit and harassment of the GST. As the entrepreneur brought it bitterly, “we do not honestly have funds, people or endurance to deal with another bureaucratic nightmare”.
India vs United Kingdom: an austere comparison
Stressing the bureaucratic absurdities of India, he opposed his experience to set up a company based in the United Kingdom remotely: “I can create a business and a bank account based in the United Kingdom in 2 days … Sitting in India, I cannot create a business in 2 months despite bribes.”
He deplored the possibilities of employment lost for more than 50 rural women whose life had improved in his business. Forced closure due to bureaucratic obstacles noted that these workers have returned to their previous difficulties.
