Exporters to meet Subbarao for lower interest rates.

Indian exporters continue to be in a grim health despite the economy now back on the growth trajectory.

The country’s export sector remains an underperformer and adding to their woes are rising interest rates. Thus, the industry now plans to knock on the doors of the Reserve Bank of India to seek cheaper and easier credit.

The exporters will meet the RBI Governor on April 6 on the agenda is a plea to cut interest on working capital term loans to 6 per cent from current 14 per cent. They will also seek lower interest rate on restructured loans to 8 percent from 14 per cent.

The exporters also want RBI to amend the NPA norms on restructured loans from 90 to 270 days and bring down interest on payment beyond due date to 1 per cent from 4 per cent.

In fact also adding to the problems is the current fluctuation in the rupee that is leaving little space for exporters to hedge leading to huge losses. However, most exporters now even contemplating demanding a fixed rate of exchange for one year durations.

With stiff competition coming in from countries like China and Bangladesh, the real hope for exporters now lies in the western markets, as the US and the EU that is yet to recover from the recession.

Source : profit.ndtv.com