Hyderabad, Nov 26 (UNI) Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has targeted to achieve financing of USD 7 billion of project exports during the next five years with the government announcing fund infusion of Rs 1,650 crore in the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) to boost project exports.
The NEIA Trust, set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in March 2006, provides export credit insurance cover for promoting medium and long-term project exports from India, Bank Deputy Managing Director N. Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of an interactive session on ‘ Enhancing Global Opportunities for the project Exporters in Hyderabad to discuss the opportunities and challenges with the Indian project exporters for harnessing the benefits of the corpus infusion by the Government, here on Friday.
The corpus infusion will enhance the project export possibility having been covered by NEIA by about Rs 33,000 crore over the next five years (equivalent to USD 4.5 billion), he said the capital infusion will help tap huge potential of project exports in focus markets.
The Bank has currently supported 32 projects valued at USD 3.13 billion in 15 countries under the Buyer's Credit under NEIA programme," Mr Ramesh said.
The opportunity for Indian exporters remains significant given the fact that the project exporters have already developed substantial competitiveness in several sectors and the financing options provided by Exim Bank are well recognised, he said.
The Bank Deputy MD said, in August this year, an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) was launched by the Government of India to aid export-oriented small and mid-sized companies and added the investment will be made by means of equity and equity-like products in units that are export-oriented in both the manufacturing and services sectors.
Under AIF, we planned to create a target Rs 250 crore fund and we have selected three companies, to manufacture cost effective Turbine blades supply to multi-nations from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to support them under AIF, he said.
Exim Bank’s Ubharte Sitaare Programme (USP) has identified the Indian companies which exhibit the potential to make it big in future, both domestically as well as those meeting global demands.
A robust range of over 100 potential proposals for a plethora of sectors, such as pharma, auto components, engineering solutions, agriculture and software has been put together by Exim Bank and SIDBI, he added.
Exim Bank expects credit growth of 10 per cent from 7.6 per cent this year, Mr Ramesh said.
In January 2021, the bank had raised $1 billion for a 10-year tenor at a coupon rate of 2.25 per cent in the 144A/Reg-S format and raised Rs 2.25 billion dollars this year so far to support Indian exports, the Deputy MD informed.
Exim Bank gives almost 80 per cent of its loans in foreign currency. So, when rupee appreciates against dollar, the loan portfolio in rupee terms comes down, he added.
UNI KNR CS 1815