Govt. announces 3% interest subsidy to boost exports

Source: PTI

The scheme would be available to all exports of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and 416 tariff lines. But it would not be available to merchant exporters

  Concerned over continuous decline in exports, the government on Wednesday announced 3% interest subsidy scheme for exporters which will have a financial implication of about Rs.2,700 crore. The decision to help boost overseas shipments was taken at a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CCEA has given its approval for "Interest Equalisation Scheme (earlier called Interest Subvention Scheme) on Pre and Post Shipment Rupee Export Credit with effect from April 1, 2015 for five years", an official statement said. The rate of interest equalisation would be 3%, it said, adding that it will be evaluated after three years. Financial implication of the proposed scheme is estimated to be in the range of Rs.2,500 crore to Rs.2,700 crore per year, it said. However, it added that the actual implication would depend on the level of exports and the claims filed by the exporters with the banks. Funds worth Rs.1,625 crore in the non-plan head of account are available under Demand of Grants for 2015-2016 and would be made available to the Reserve Bank, it said. The scheme would be available to all exports of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and 416 tariff lines. But it would not be available to merchant exporters. "We believe that this will give a big boost to exports particularly for the MSME sector, handicraft, agri-products and food processing," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said after the Cabinet meeting. He said the previous government had discontinued the interest subvention scheme, which has made the country's exports uncompetitive. Under the scheme, exporters get loans at affordable rates, which help them ship more goods to foreign markets. India's exports remained in the negative territory for the 11th month in a row in October, registering a dip of 17.53% to $21.35 billion due to a demand slowdown, although trade deficit showed some improvement.  

November 18, 2015 |5:19pm IST