India, July 24 -- After years of industry lobbying, the commerce ministry has now relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) rules to enable online marketplaces to export products from India.

In a press circular dated July 23, the commerce ministry noted that FDI is now permitted in B2B ecommerce and marketplaces models. It also clarified that foreign direct investments are still now allowed for B2C and inventory-based ecommerce platforms.

With this, all decks have now been cleared for players like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart to buy products directly from Indian sellers and then sell them to customers overseas.

"In order to facilitate greater exports through easier and increased access of global markets by Indian sellers, the extant...