Driving Foreign Trade

Setup in 1982, the Export Import (EXIM) Bank of India was established with the purpose of financing, facilitating, and promoting foreign trade of India. The main objective of EXIM Bank is to provide financial assistance to promote the export production in India. This specialised is owned by the government of India and helps in financing, facilitating and promoting foreign trade of India.

The EXIM Bank extends Lines of Credit (LOCs) to overseas financial institutions, regional development banks, sovereign governments and other entities overseas, to enable buyers in those countries to import developmental and infrastructure projects, equipments, goods and services from India, on deferred credit terms. In this way, the bank has laid strong emphasis on enhancing project exports, the funding options for which have been enhanced with introduction of the Buyer’s Credit- National Export Insurance Account (BC-NEIA) programme.

The Bank also facilitates two-way technology transfer by financing import of technology into India, and investment abroad by Indian companies for setting up joint ventures, subsidiaries or undertaking overseas acquisitions. To promote hi-tech exports from India, the Bank has a lending programme to finance research and development (R&D) activities of export-oriented companies.

The Bank, with its diverse programmes, caters to different segments of exporters and the export cycle. EXIM Bank provides assistance in helping Indian firms in their globalisation efforts by locating overseas distributors, buyers, partners for their products and services. The Bank also lays special emphasis on enhancing export capabilities and international competitiveness of Indian companies through its various Advisory Services (See: Services Offered).

In recent years, the Bank under the Government of India’s ‘Act East Initiative’ undertook a Mission to CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam), consequent to which a Project Development Company is being set up, to be followed by a Project Development and Facilitation Framework. Further, EXIM Bank, IL&FS, AfDB and SBI jointly floated a Project Development Company in Africa, based in Mauritius. The Bank has also entered into a Cooperation Agreement on Innovation with the four major development Banks of the BRICS countries which is expected to promote intra-BRICS cooperation in innovation financing.

The Agreement was signed as part of the areas identified for strengthening the cooperation among BRICS Development Banks during their Annual Meeting held in Beijing on September 1, 2017. Under this umbrella agreement, upon receipt of a credit line request from another member development bank, the credit line provider shall, in accordance with applicable laws and its internal policies and analysis and on a case-by-case basis, use reasonable endeavours to determine whether or not to extend the credit line, and notify the credit user accordingly.

With India’s foreign trade increasing each passing year, the role of EXIM Bank will only further enhance and be crucial for businesses looking for importing or exporting. Realising its importance, the Government extended a special export development fund to the bank to sanction loans in the interest of international trade towards meeting strategic objectives was put to use.

Services Offered

• Buyer’s Credit
• Corporate Banking
• Lines of Credit
• Overseas Investments Finance
• Project Exports
• Marketing Advisory Services
• Research & Analysis
• Export Advisory Services
• Term Deposit Scheme

(A marketing initiative by Open Avenues)

About The Author

Open