India's ministry of commerce hopes to put its EDI (electronic data interchange) network in place by the end of the year.

Nripendra Mishra, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce, said that his ministry expects to commission the network by December-end, though full-scale application would have to wait till the critical issues of digital signatures and certification are addressed. The legal and standardisation issues are being finalised now. Mr Mishra was speaking at a seminar on "EDI and role of e-commerce for Indian exporting community in the next millennium", organised by Capexil and Federation of Indian Export Organisation (eastern region).

The EDI network involves the ministry of commerce, customs, airlines, ports, directorate general of foreign trade, banks, regional licensing authorities and other organisations. But the project has the dubious legacy of having missed its deadlines twice earlier.

The delays have been mainly due to the problems of interconnectivity among agencies and implementing standardised forms. The EDI Council of India, set up by the ministry of commerce, is the executing agency for the project.

EDI is an important element in foreign trade as many countries do not prefer to trade with countries without EDI. The European Union plans to levy up to 50 per cent processing charge for non-EDI transactions; Singapore too levies extra charges on non-EDI transactions; and the US too trades paperless.

It is therefore imperative for India to follow these practices as these are some of India's major trading partners. International trading is done as per the EDIFACT standard laid down by the United Nations.