Exim Bank told to help exporters by studying the requirements of developed markets
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has told project exporters to diversify and foray into developed economies, just not restrict to Government Line of Credit Projects and projects in the developing world.
Developed countries may very well offer advantages of low risk and lower capital requirement with higher credit rating of projects which will enable companies for higher credit limits, he said at the ‘Summit on Enhancing Global Opportunities for Indian Project Exporters’ organized by the Exim Bank in New Delhi on 5 May 2022.
The Minister also complimented India Exim Bank for supporting project exporters by organizing the summit with participation of international stakeholders, and conducting a study on Indian Project Exports.
The Minister noted that the summit was timely and important, given the challenges being faced by the global economy since the start of 2022 such as the Omicron wave, global supply chain disruptions, soaring raw material costs, container shortages, global financial market volatility and geopolitical tensions.
Observing that several heads of governments and ministers had chosen India as their first destination post-Covid, Goyal said that it signalled the tremendous interest that “the India story” has generated in the world.
“It is a recognition of efforts put in by each citizen and is indicative of a bright future for the nation,” he underlined.
Goyal said that the IT sector’s performance during the pandemic was especially noteworthy and added that India did not let down a single international commitment during the pandemic.
“Thanks to visionary initiative like Digital India, the nation adapted very well to the exigencies of Covid and made record service exports possible in a Covid-hit year,” he elaborated.
The target of US$1 trillion worth of goods and services export each by 2030, could be achieved only with the whole-hearted participation of every single stakeholder, he said.
Goyal also urged the banking sector to abandon the mindset of conservatism that has set in the sector and be open to taking some risks which is an integral part of business.
India has all the necessary ingredients to become a global player in project exports, he highlighted.
The world has realized that it is absolutely essential to invest in infrastructure, and as such project exports would also help India’s services and goods export to grow, he pointed out.
He urged the project export sector to look at credit enhancement schemes and find backstop arrangement for private banks to come into project financing.
Highlighting the Government’s Lines of Credit (LOC) programme that has particularly been pivotal in creating opportunities for Indian project exporters, the Minister said that through Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS), the Government has been supporting Indian companies bid for strategic infrastructure projects in the overseas market.
He specified the need for building businesses that are independent of government aid and said that with such businesses, chances of growth and chances of penetrating the markets of the developed world are better.
Goyal urged Exim Bank to help exporters by studying what developed world markets wanted and by guiding Indian infrastructure companies to meet those requirements.
He also asked project export sector to proactively engage with the Government’s FTA negotiations and give inputs and feedback about the market access problems or discriminations they faced with FTA markets.
He assured that these concerns would be factored into India’s FTA negotiations.
“It was time for our engineers and Project Managers be part of building the world.”
He assured the Government’s full support to Indian Project Exporters and take forward suggestions emanating from the deliberations at the summit to make India “The destination” for seeking project exports. fiinews.com
