Business

AEPC Seeks Costing Proposal From Amazon For Masks, PPE Kits

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has sought special costing proposals from e-commerce giant Amazon for selling masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) kits through the portal of the company. The EPC has also urged the government to lift the ban on export of PPE kits soon. "PPE kits are used for health purposes and they should work out special rates for masks and also for these kits for our AEPC members," AEPC chairman A Sakthivel said in a webinar on 'How to start exporting through B2C ecommerce'. It was organised by the council and Amazon. Sakthivel said that there is a huge market for masks across the world and all the fashion brands have started asking for it. While Indian players have already started exporting non-medical and designer masks, they have also started preparing for getting the international certifications needed before exporting to these countries, he said in a statement. He expressed hope that the ban on export of PPE kits may be lifted later this month by the government. The ban was imposed in January. He added that the council has requested the government to help exporters get the accreditation from the European lab, that is, Conformite Europeene or CE marking, and a certification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to export PPEs to the European Union and US markets, respectively. Sumeet Swapnil, Category Lead, Apparel, Amazon Global Selling, India, said, "We will definitely look into the proposal and see what's the best possible that we can do from our end."