AMNS India executes paperless bill discounting transaction with ICICI Bank

AMNS India on Sunday said its has executed "a paperless bill discounting transaction" in partnership with ICICI Bank.

Gujarat-based ?ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India said it is first such transaction in India.

?The end-to-end electronic transaction, comprising digital issuance of letter of credit (LC), advisory and presentment of documents took place among AMNS India, its Baroda-based customer Vijay Tanks and ICICI Bank, the steel maker said in a statement.

"In a step forward for digitising trade payments, AMNS India today (Sunday) announced it has executed the country's first domestic paperless bill discounting transaction in partnership with ICICI Bank," it said.

ICICI Bank was the intermediary between the buyer and seller, the statement said.

The bank's branch in Baroda, Gujarat, issued an LC for the buyer Vijay Tanks, while its branch at Hazira advised and negotiated for the seller AMNS India, it said.

The terms of the LC required AMNS India to digitally present the documents to ICICI Bank evidencing the transaction flow.

In the statement, AMNS India Deputy Chief Financial Officer Amit Harlalka said it is a positive step towards enabling the digitisation of trade payments and provides for better working capital efficiency for the company and trade partners.

"This transaction is seen by many in banking and business as a prelude to the blockchain, a technology even more robust in security, identity and transparency, and which is now being widely studied for possible adoption by Indian banks," he said.

ICICI Bank Head (Transaction Banking and SME Group) Ajay Gupta said, "We are glad to have partnered with AMNS India to execute India's first paperless bill discounting transaction. The bank continues to play a pioneering role in re-imagining digital and cashless payments in India."

This innovative solution has the potential to enable greater velocity of trades at lower cost for customers, AMNS India said.

In paper-based trades, physical goods at times arrive before their supporting documents, leading to corporates incurring demurrage charges. This will be a thing of the past with such digital developments, it said.

AMNS India further said it actively encourages the digitisation of processes across all its work streams from finance to sales to operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies in steel sector and beyond to manage their manufacturing and administration in different ways, and accelerated the adoption of digital technology, the statement said.