Exim Bank to float special fund for rural technologies

The Export-Import Bank of India will soon float a special fund for commercialisation of rural technologies for export market.     

"For example, the National Innovation Foundation in Ahmedabad has patented lots of technologies, which can be taken abroad (exported)," Exim Bank Chairman and Managing Director T C Venkat Subramanian told PTI here.   

The bank has initially put in Rs 2 crore in the fund but "it can always be expanded", he said.     

Giving another example, he said the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), a non-governmental organisation, has come out with a water-mill which can generate electricity of 3 kv or 4 kv and can be used for lighting purposes.   

"It has excellent applications all over the world because the investment is very small. We are talking to the NGO (which is engaged in the task of popularisation of science and introduction of appropriate technologies in the Himalayan region), how we can upgrade this product and export it", Subramanian said.    

The bank would come out with a scheme to finance grassroots business enterprises for export market. The fund, the size of which is not a constraint, would head towards capacity building as well as specific investment projects.   

Subramanian said both the initiatives are planned to be launched in a month's time. The bank grew by 18 per cent in the last year and has set itself a target of 20 per cent in the current fiscal, he added.