Mumbai, 27 Nov (KNN) Dr Bhagwat Karad, Union Minister of State for Finance, expressed confidence that with businesses expanding after a lull phase of the Covid 19 pandemic, exports from India are moving towards a new milestone.

Speaking at the ‘Banking Conclave for Exports’ jointly organised by Federation of Indian Export Organizations and Union Bank of India in Mumbai, Dr. Karad said “Our economy is rebounding, business is expanding and this is the right time to talk about increasing exports.”

He further added that the export oriented policies of Government have created the right eco-system for export led growth.

Minister Dr. Karad informed that merchandise exports in the first 8 months of 2021-22 have touched USD 233 billion registering 54% growth over the previous year.

This export growth has been led by sectors like engineering goods, gems & jewellery, electronics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals etc.., he said.

The Minister assured full support of the banking system to exporters and said banking scenario in the country has significantly improved with the presence of 12 public sector banks, 22 private  banks, 46 foreign banks, 56 regional rural banks, 1485 urban cooperative banks and 96000 rural cooperative banks.

He further said that RBI has enhanced the limit for classification of export credit under priority sector lending to INR 40 Crore from INR 25 Crore.

The Banking Conclave in Mumbai focused on the role of banks as key catalysts for exports,  export trade related banking guidelines and their impact on exports, export finance and export bill discounting issues etc.

Speaking about the Government initiatives, the Minister said, the Production Linked Incentive Scheme announced by the Government is having a positive impact in boosting manufacturing and promoting exports.

He further stated that the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) has proved to be important for different industries.

“Due to demand from industrialists, the Government has extended the INR 4.5 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till March 31, 2022, to help businesses cope with the pandemic's adverse effects. INR 2.9 lakh crore of this fund  has been sanctioned by different banks,” he added.

Khalid Khan, Vice President FIEO listed various challenges faced by exporters and asked intervention of relevant authorities.

The Union Minister assured to convene a joint meeting of various export organizations, Bank CMDs and other stakeholders in near future to resolve the issues.

The conclave was attended by senior officials of the banking sector 

including CEO and MD of UCO Bank and IBA Chairman Atul Kumar Goel,  

CEO & MD of Canara Bank L V Prabhakar, CEO & MD of Bank of Baroda Sanjiv Chadha, CMD, ECGC Senthilnathan and R S Amar, Head of RBI’s Foreign Exchange Department among others.

Nearly 150 exporters from MSME and non-MSME sector were also present.