Claim settlement for ECGC down 21% at Rs 885 cr in FY17

Company reports net profit of Rs 282 cr

ECGC, the central government-owned export credit agency, reported a 21 per cent decline in claim 

settlements at Rs 885 crore in 2016-2017, from the Rs 1,123 crore settled the previous year.

Claims from public sector banks, the biggest chunk of business, had reduced as they’d cut on export credit in the year. ECGC paid Rs 679 crore in FY17 to lending banks. 

Premium income fell four per cent to Rs 1,268 crore from FY16. In its 60th year of operation, it saw its business grow from Rs 1.35 lakh crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1.41 lakh crore. Net profit saw a small rise to Rs 282 crore, from Rs 276.2 crore the previous year.

ECGC maintained a high solvency ratio of 8.88 as of end-March, against the regulator’s norm of 1.5. The major sectors where claims arose were agricultural products, engineering goods, gems and jewellery, ready-made garments, basic chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Claim settlement for gems and jewellery segment stood at Rs 40 crore, down from  Rs 871 crore, in FY17. However, Geetha Murlidhar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of ECGC said, “A lot of defaults are in the pipeline. Claims are pending (estimate of Rs 1,000 crores). Hence, things have not stabilised”.

USA paid the highest amount of claims against any country followed by UK and UAE on higher exports. ECGC presently underwrites risk on 237 countries and maintains records of about 1, 25,000 active buyers all over the world, said Murlidhar.

The company has proposed a dividend of Rs 72.50 crore to the government in FY17. This is a tad low from previous year's dividend of Rs 78.2 crore. Moreover, the paid up capital of ECGC rose to Rs 1,450 crore and its net worth increased to Rs 3,619 crore.