Ecgc Offers Shipment-Specific Cover

In a bid to fulfil the long-standing demands from exporters, the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) of India Ltd, which is engaged in providing credit insurance and other related services to exporters, has introduced schemes that offer shipment specific insurance covers.

At present, exporters holding the policy were required to cover all their shipments and pay the premium accordingly.

Chairman and managing director P M A Hakeem said that many established exporters have been demanding that they should have the freedom to select shipments to be covered under the insurance policy. And they should not be compelled to pay premium for shipments on which they do not perceive any risk.

"In response to these demands, the corporation has decided to introduce specific shipment policies to cover one or more shipments only. Depending on the requirements of the exporters, specific policies will be available for covering only the political risk or both political and commercial risks," he elaborated.

Specific policies would also be available for shipments against letters of credit to cover the political risks and the insolvency or default of the bank opening the letter of credit, Hakeem added.

While the existing whole-turnover policies may continue to be the preferred option to many exporters, those who do not require such policies can avail of these new schemes.

With immediate effect ECGC has also introduced one more major flexibility in respect of trading houses, star trading houses and super star trading houses. Such exporters, while continuing with the existing who turnover policies, would be allowed to exclude from the purview of these policies any country or group of countries or commodities or any combination of them that they may choose.