NEW DELHI:
Estonia has emerged a popular country for
Indian sellers, who use the country's
e-residency programme to access European markets and
Paypal payment system. Estonia launched e-Residency — a government issued digital identity that allows entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to set up and run location-independent business — in 2014.
Where's it? West of Russia, north of Latvia and bordering the Baltic sea. Population: around 13 lakh.
What's good there? Estonia offers an e-residence programme — only nation to do so — that would allow an individual or business to run its operations from there, virtually.
So? Estonia is a European Union member — set up your business in Estonia and you get unhindered access to all of the European Union.
Who has applied? The country got 1,600 applications from India — most of them sellers on
Amazon. As on date, the former Soviet country has over 30,000 e-residents from 140 countries, including more than 1,200 Indian citizens. Recently, Reliance Industries chairman
Mukesh Ambani expressed interest in collaborating with Estonia to develop better e-governance solutions for India.
