JAIPUR: State-run Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) has reported around five per cent jump in the number of policies, even as the country's exports have slid considerably due to the global meltdown.
“We have recorded 13,081 policies as on February 28, 2009, this fiscal as against 12,533 policies in the last fiscal across the country. This shows exporters' growing trust on us. It is significant for us as this rise is against an acute dip in exports,' ' ECGC Jaipur branch Manager PDM Rao said here.
Export credit policy covers risk arising from political and commercial environment and exporters buy credit covers to safeguard their payments against the default of buyers on account of the risk existing in the countries they are exporting to.
The corporation has also witnessed a sharp rise in the payment of claims. “So far this fiscal, we have cleared claims worth Rs 202 crore in 578 cases, which is 80 per cent more than the last fiscal when the corporation had paid Rs 112.07 crore in 64 9 cases in the country,'' he said.
India's total exports have entered the negative territory since October last year, with the biggest fall of 16 per cent witnessed in January forcing the government to revise its $200 billion target. For the April-January period, shipments stood at $144.2 6 billion.
Source : Business Line