ECGC to pay govt Rs72.50 crore as dividend for 2016-17

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has posted a profit (before tax) of Rs407 crore for the 2016-17 financial year, an increase of 5 per cent over previous year. It has also paid a dividend of Rs72.5 crore to the government, its sole shareholder, at the rate of Rs5 per share.

ECGC said despite a reduction in its premium rates (in order to bring down the transaction costs of the exporters as per government policy) by an average 17 per cent, it recorded only a marginal decline in premium of less than 4 per cent.

ECGC's support of total exports at Rs2,65,000 crore was around 15 per cent of total merchandise exports in 2016-17. Significantly, EGC said 85 per cent of its support was accounted for by MSME exporters.

ECGC said there were 12,029 export covers in force as of 31 March 2017 with a maximum liability of Rs86,215 crore.

However, ECGC noted that despite a recorded a growth of 15 per cent in covers provided to exports to Africa with a view to increase Indian exports in new markets, exports to Africa actually registered a decline of 5 per cent in 2016-17.

ECGC has over 4,00,000 overseas buyers on record of which more than 1,20,000 buyers are regular and active buyers for Indian exporters. The cumulative exposure on these active buyers made available by ECGC is more than Rs1,25,000 crore for Indian exporters. An active management of exposures on these buyers is supported by a strong data base, built over more than five decades, the agency said.

ECGC also supports diversification of exports to Focus Markets identified by the department of commerce by favourably rating such countries to enable coverage of exports at very competitive rates.

ECGC has been a pioneer in providing ECIB covers to banks, which enable exporters to get adequate and timely finance from banks at pre and post-shipment stages.

ECGC has been awarded the Best ECA Award by Trade and Forfaiting Review for 2017, an award that has been in vogue for last twenty years. ECGC won the award beating stalwart ECAs from Germany and the UK.

ECGC also manages the NEIA Trust of the Government of India that provides credit insurance covers to medium and long term exports, including project exports. The NEIA has supported 76 contracts with a project value of around Rs35,000 crore, being executed by Indian exporters in 29 countries.