The Reserve Bank of India today released the report of the Technical Committee on Services/Facilities for the Exporters (Chairman - Shri G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, RBI). Among others the Committee has made recommendations relating to i) review of Gold Card Scheme for extension of export credit to exporters, ii) appropriate inclusion of export finance under the Priority Sector Advances for scheduled commercial banks, iii) raising of foreign currency loans on pool basis for extension of export credit to exporters, iv) allowing factoring on non recourse basis, v) liberalization of merchanting trade, vi) financing to units in Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) / Special Economic Zone (SEZ), vii) more incentives in the area of taxation benefits and subvention, viii) denomination of export credit limit in foreign currency, ix) simplification of hedging procedure, xi) securitization of receivable/ introduction of new insurance products by Export Credit Gurantee Corporation (ECGC)/liberalization of claim procedure by ECGC, etc. Reserve Bank along with the other agencies would examine the recommendations for implementation.

It may be mentioned that Reserve Bank, over time, has liberalized and delegated powers to Authorised Dealer (AD) banks to decide interest rates on loans to exporters and documentation/ procedure with respect to purveying of credit to export sector. However, it has been receiving a number of representations from various trade bodies/individual exporters highlighting the difficulties being faced by them in getting timely, adequate and hassle-free flow of credit towards working capital, capital expenditure and other requirements of the sector. Given the current global and Indian scenario and the importance of export sector in the overall context, constitution of a Technical Committee to examine the above issues was announced by the Governor, Dr. D. Subbarao on January 29, 2013 in his meeting with bankers post Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13. The Committee under Shri G. Padmanabhan had representation from the EXIM Bank, ECGC, select banks, trade bodies, such as, Federation of Indian Export Organization (FlEO), Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India (FEDAI), etc. besides senior officers from Department of Banking Operations and Development, Foreign Exchange Department & Department of Economic and Policy Research from the Reserve Bank and also solicited views/comments of the stakeholders from outside the committee members. Among others it’s terms of reference included review of the existing policies/procedure relating to bank finance for exports and suggest measures to improve timely, adequate and hassle-free flow of credit towards working capital, capital expenditure and other requirements of the sector, and, in particular SME units; to evaluate and suggest ways for improving financial support to the export sector from alternative sources like factoring, interest subvention, export advance from the external sources, etc.; to suggest measures to simplify and rationalize the existing procedures including the documentation, matters relating to transaction cost/transition period, to examine specifically the special needs of exporting units located in SEZ, requirements of merchanting trade, etc.

Full report of the Committee can be viewed at website of Reserve Bank – www.rbi.org.in

R. R. Sinha

Deputy General Manager

Press Release : 2012-2013/1842

Export credit reform: recommendations to broaden financing tools and simplify procedures for timely exporter finance. The Committee recommended reforms to improve exporters' access to finance, including review of the Gold Card Scheme, inclusion of export finance under Priority Sector classification, foreign currency pool loans, non recourse factoring, liberalisation of merchanting trade, denomination of export credit in foreign currency, simplification of hedging, securitisation of receivables and new insurance or claim liberalisation by the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation, alongside procedural delegation to Authorised Dealer banks and measures for DTA/SEZ units and SMEs to ensure timely and adequate export credit.