Monday, November 28

Export Finance



Introduction

¯      Export for a developing country like India plays very important role in developing economic activities.  Govt. policy is geared towards export promotion & commercial banks are encouraged to lend to export sector.  Banks are associated with exporters at every stage of export financial activities and provide medium to settle payment of sale proceeds.

-          Export finance is provided to eligible exporters as Working Capital assistance before shipment of goods.  Technical name of this facility is PRESHIPMENT CREDIT and  provided by commercial banks.  POST SHIPMENT CREDIT is provided by the banks as Bill Finance to meet financial requirements of the exporters from the date of shipment to receipt of sale proceeds.

-          Pre shipment and Post ship Credit to exporters is essentially a short term financial assistance for period varies from a few days up to 1 year depending upon business cycle of the export transaction.

-          Medium & Long term finance is provided to exporter by Development Banks like IDBI, EXIM Bank etc. for long periods more than 1 year to 7 years.  Mainly long term export finance is provided at post shipment stage in form of Supplier’s Credit, Buyer’s Credit (non recourse basis) & Forfaiting (non-recourse basis).

-          Presently exporters are also availing Factoring (non recourse basis) to meet financial requirement in Post shipment stage.  Factoring charges are to range of 10% p.a to 14% p.a which are higher than export finance provided by Banks.

CURRENCY OF EXPORT FINANCE & INTERESTS RATES


-          Banks provide export finance in Rupee and in Foreign Currencies (USD, STG, EURO & Yen) to eligible exporter both at Pre shipment & Post shipment stage at concessional interest rates.  Rupee finance to exporter is linked to Prime Lending Rate of the concerned bank. Interest rates to export sector is controlled by RBI and are revised from time to time.  Now RBI guidelines are for fixing maximum interest rate where as banks are free to charge lesser interest rates from these maximum limits.  Present interest rate guidelines are as under:

    Preshipment                Interest Not                Postshipment             Interest Not
      Credit                         To Exceed                       Credit                     To Exceed
                                               
Up to 180 days           PLR- 2.5%                  up to 90 days              PLR- 2.5%
           
Beyond 180 days        PLR+0.5%                  Beyond 90 days          PLR+0.5%
to 270 days                                                     to 180 days

            Beyond 270 to            As per Bank’s             Beyond 180 days        As per Bank’s
360 days                      guidelines                                                        guidelines

PreShipment Credit (Fc)
Interest  Not To Exceed
PostShipment Credit (Fc)
Interest   Not To Exceed
Upto 180 days
LIBOR + 0.75%
Upto 180 days
LIBOR +0.75%
Beyond 180 and upto 360 days
Above interest rate for period of upto 180 days at time of extension +2%
Export bills (demand or usance) realized after due date but upto date of crystallization
Above interest rate plus 2%



¯      If no export takes place then exporter has to pay higher interest rate including penal interest right from the beginning from the date of availing the export credit.
-          Exporters are also eligible to foreign currency loans at concessional interest rates to reduce the Cost of finance.
-          Exporters have natural hedge against exchange Rate fluctuation making these loans comparatively less costly than Rupee loans.
-          Interests rates are linked to LIBOR in case of loan in foreign currencies to exporters which are low as compared to rupee export credit.

MEDIUM & LONG TERM EXPORT FINANCE

Medium & long term finance are provided by development banks like EXIM Bank, IDBI, IFCI and ICICI etc. in the form of Buyer’s  Credit, Supplier’s Credit and forfaiting etc.  The period and interest rate depend upon business transaction & cost of funds.  Finance is provided for the period 1year to 10years for Turkey Project, Construction Projects abroad & on deferred payment basis exports.

RESERVE BANK REGULATIONS IN EXPORTS

-          Objective of RBI regulations is to provide answers to technical problems, facilitate growth of export & payments.
-          Export Bills must be invoiced in foreign currencies & export sale proceeds must be routed through commercial bank in India.
-          Exporter has to declare export transaction on  the following statutory forms & normally sale proceeds must be realized within a period 180 days from the date of shipment:
·           GRI
·           SDF
·           PP
·           SOFTEX

GRI & SDF form covers export of goods by sea, air & road.  PP form cover exports by Post Parcels.  Export of computer software covered by SOFTEX.  Through these forms, RBI control the receipt of export sale proceeds.

Relaxation Of Period Repatriation

¯      Period of repatriation of export sale proceeds has been relaxed in following manners:
      15 Months- Export to approve warchours abroad
      12 Months :-
·          Export by status Exporters
·           Units in special Economic zones
·           Exports more than Rs100 crores per year in case 6 Products
·           Export to African & South America countries
·           Export to CIS countries on consignment basis.

¯      Banks have been permitted to extend realization period in case of export transaction less than USD 100,000 on quarterly basis.

-          Exporter is allowed to change buyer & destination of the country to ensure repatriation of Export sale realization without RBI permission.

-          Exporter is allowed to arrange advance payment from Foreign buyer but export has to take place within 1 year from date of receipt of advance payment.  Interests on advance payment is allowed by RBI.

-          Normally export documents are dispatched through Indian bank to foreign bank of the buyer. Now bank can sent documents directly to foreign buyer subject to any one of following conditions:
·           Letter of credit is obtained
·           Advance payment received
·           Exporter is having Good Track Record

Exporter is also allowed to send documents directly to foreign buyer without involving banks cost to the transaction, subject to any of the following condition:
           
·           Advance Payment
·           Exporter is status Holder
·           Export is less than Rs 25000

These facilities are provided to exporters to eliminate banks and reduce the cost of handling the documents.

-          Exporters are allowed to keep 50% of export sales realizations in Exchange Earner Foreign Currency A/c & 75% in case of status holder exporter, units in SEZ, 100% export oriented units & use the funds for all current account transactions.

-          Rebates to foreign buyer without any limit for good track record exporter to ensure realization of export sale proceeds are allowed by Reserve Bank of India.

-          Unrealized Foreign currency export bills purchased by banks are crystallized in Rupees after 30days from the due date to protect against adverse foreign currency movements.  After crystallize interest is changed in rupees.

-          To get the status of Good Track Record exporters, overdue amount should not be more than 5% of the average export realization in last three years.

-          Good track record exporter or status holder exporters can avail export finance with production of confirmed order or letter of credit and maintain running export finance accounts.

-          Sub suppliers of items to exporters are also eligible for export finance at concessional interest rates.

-          Reserve Bank of India may caution list an exporter based on non realization of export sales proceeds & committing frauds.

for more information about Export Finance please visit www.exportgenius.in

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