NEW DELHI: The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) will clear all pending claims of apparel exporters in the next four months, AEPC said on Friday. ECGC CMD M Senthilnathan said exporters should share all their documents and correspondences with their international buyers in one go for quick processing.
He said this while participating in a webinar, organized by the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) on ‘Managing Trade Credit under the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation’.
“We are working under pandemic-related restrictions. But we are trying our best and we plan to clear all pending claims in four months’ time,” AEPC said in a statement quoting Senthilnathan.
Senthilnathan said the insolvency rates are high in developed economies and is going to shoot up sharply due to the pandemic’s impact on GDP growth, which is negative for most of the developed world.
Right now all the buyers and most part of the world is affected due to COVID containment measures, he said. The ECGC recognizes that the situation calls for some credit accommodation and credit insurers need to take higher risks, he added.
“We are prepared to take higher risks. In the last three years, the government has infused capital of Rs 1,350 crore in ECGC in recognizing the need to strengthen the institute supporting the exporters,” Senthilnathan added.
He said credit insurance is purely based on documentary evidence unlike tangible insurance like property, vehicle or health insurance, and hence exporters should send an email confirmation for any modification in the contract with the buyer.
All changes need to be documented because it may be required if the buyer fails to honour his part of the contract, he said adding though the risks are high it should not deter the exporters from exploring the market.
Sunil Joshi, Executive Director, ECGC, said that the pandemic has shown the limits of international businesses and the distressing impact it can have on real economies. It illustrates how much more interconnected supply chains have become and how all roads lead to and from China, he said.
AEPC Chairman A Sakthivel said ECGC is extending support at this crucial juncture when international buyers had cancelled their orders leaving most of the apparel exporters in the country facing huge financial problems questioning their survival.
Source: indiatimes.com