Can APEDA, FIEO, CBI or an embassy find me overseas buyers?

Agri and food exporters register with APEDA, and get their Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC), through "Register as Member" on apeda.gov.in. The APEDA site also lists upcoming events and keeps a trade enquiries folder.

The buyer-facing tools are on AgriExchange (agriexchange.apeda.gov.in). They include Buy Leads, Sell Leads and an Exporter Directory, with separate sign-ins for exporters, importers and Indian missions abroad. The directory lists APEDA registered members. Its own page says it lets importers "track the presence of the exporters of the product of their interest". The public pages read here do not say what a Buy Lead contains, whether leads are current, or what access requires. Open several leads after you sign in before you plan around them.

The home page also posts a "List of registered rice establishment in SFDA for export of rice to Saudi Arabia". That is a list of Indian rice establishments registered with SFDA for export to Saudi Arabia, not of Saudi buyers. On the buyer side, 541 companies in Saudi Arabia appear as buyers of milled rice (HS 100630) in supplying countries' export records, with about 60% of the value from India (Saudi rice importers).

FIEO's Indian Business Portal (indianbusinessportal.in/ibp-buyer) is a B2B marketplace. Foreign buyers search Indian suppliers by product name, supplier name or ITC-HSN code. They can send one buying request to get several quotations, or click "Request Meeting" on a supplier profile. You are listed and wait for the buyer to act.

FIEO's events are where you meet buyers in person. IANS reported one in October 2025 (published on lokmattimes.com). It was a two-day International Buyer-Seller Meet at Ganpat University, held as part of the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference under the World Bank RAMP project. FIEO reported these figures:

There were more than 21 exporters for each buyer. With over 2,200 meetings, each buyer sat in about 55 meetings, and each exporter had 2 or 3 on average. The 40 buyers covered six sectors, so only some of them would buy any one product. The MoU and enquiry totals are FIEO's figures for the whole event.

EEPC India serves engineering exporters. Members receive live trade leads and tenders by e-mail, plus a weekly magazine with global tenders, projects, live enquiries and market reports. EEPC runs buyer-seller meets abroad and reverse buyer-seller meets in India. Its FAQ places these under the Government of India's MDA/MAI scheme. The leads go to members only and cover engineering goods only. The FAQ does not say whether a lead names the buying company or only describes a tender or enquiry. Before you pay the subscription, e-mail a regional office (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata) or sub-regional office (Bangalore, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad) and ask for a sample bulletin.

The Consulate General of India in Munich publishes a "Trade Queries" file on cgimunich.gov.in, with the date 12-06-2025 in its file name. Each entry has two columns: the inquirer's details and the products. Of the first 36 entries read for this guide, 26 give an address, a city or a phone number, and all 26 are in India (Indian cities or +91 numbers). The other 10 give only a name, an e-mail address, a website or registration numbers. They offer fruits and vegetables, medicines, spices, essential oils, home textiles and engineering items, and several ask the consulate for importers or a buyer database. So these entries are Indian exporters looking for German buyers, the same thing you are doing.

A mission is more useful through its commercial wing. Ask the commercial wing for market reports and for the next reverse buyer-seller meet or delegation for your HS code. EEPC's FAQ, for example, says EEPC arranges visits of overseas buyers, missions and trade delegations to India.

Business Standard reported on 31 December 2025 that the government had launched the Market Access Support (MAS) scheme, with Rs 4,531 crore for FY26 to FY31. It supports buyer-seller meets, international trade fairs and exhibitions, mega reverse buyer-seller meets in India, and trade delegations to priority and emerging markets. It is aimed at first-time exporters, MSME exporters, and priority sectors such as agriculture, leather, handloom and toys.

• Supported events must have at least 35% MSME participants.
• Support ceilings and cost-sharing ratios are set per event. Exporters with export turnover up to Rs 75 lakh in the preceding year also get partial airfare support.
• A three-to-five-year calendar of major events will be approved in advance. Ask your export promotion council for it so you can plan which fair to attend.

The article gives no amount per exporter, so your share is only known when the organising council puts it in writing. Before you commit, ask the council for a written quote that covers these points:

• Membership or listing fee, and whether you must be a member to take part.
• Participation charge for the stand, table or meeting slots.
• Costs not covered: flights, hotel, visa, freight for samples.
• Whether you qualify for MAS support, and under which category.
• How much is reimbursed, what documents you must submit, and when the money is paid.

CBI, based in the Netherlands, runs projects that help SMEs in emerging markets connect with buyers, learn European requirements and certification, and exhibit at leading European trade fairs. Dutch or European importers who want suppliers in low- and middle-income countries can join the same projects. Projects are listed by sector and country on cbi.eu/projects. When that page was read, its sectors were food and agricultural goods, home textiles, apparel, natural ingredients, IT outsourcing and tourism. Active projects were in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Bangladesh, Ghana, Uganda, Guinea and Morocco, and none was in India. Indian exporters should check the country filter for new projects. Until one opens, the nearest equivalent in these sources is an MAS-supported meet or fair through your council. If your country and sector match a CBI project, ask CBI:

• How are exporters selected, and when does the next intake open?
• Does the project include meetings with named buyers or a stand at a European fair?
• Which costs does CBI cover, and which do I pay?

Trade records name far more buying companies than a single meet can bring into the room. Here is turmeric in the UAE:

225 companies in the UAE appear as buyers of turmeric in supplying countries' export records. This is mirror data: the UAE buyer is named on the exporter's shipment record, not on a UAE customs filing. Those records show 961 shipments worth about $7.79M, with about 86% of the value from India. The data provider does not state the period the records cover, so treat the count as a starting list, not proof that each company buys today. Compare it with the 40 buyers across six sectors at the Gujarat meet.

1. 1

   Build a list before the event

   Use import or mirror records for your HS code and target country to list 20 to 30 companies that already buy your product. The free importer pages show counts by product and market.

2. 2

   Ask the organiser who is coming

   Before you pay a participation fee, ask the council which buyer companies have confirmed. Mark the ones already on your list and ask for slots with those first.

3. 3

   Write to the importers who were not there

   Contact the companies on your list that are not attending. Send each a short message with your product, HS code and one reason you fit. See writing a first e-mail to an importer.

The importer pages show importer counts, shipments and top supplying countries for each product and market, with no account. They cover engineering goods as well as food. For example, 4,893 companies appear as importers of auto parts (HS 870899) in United States import records, with about 47% of the shipments from India (United States auto parts importers). Each page shows when its numbers last changed at a monthly reading (methodology).

Company names are in Find Buyers. You can search it without an account and see named companies, each with a reason it fits. A free sign-up keeps the list and gives you 5 buyers a month with verified contacts. Paid plans start at $9.90 a month for 25 buyers. When a buy lead, mission query or meet contact writes to you, Check a Lead shows whether the company is real and active, and how to verify a foreign buyer covers the other checks.