Exim Initials $10 M Line Of Credit With Russian Bank

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) signed a $10 million line of credit with Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank) of Russia on Monday.

The agreement was signed by T C Venkat Subramanian, managing director, Exim Bank, and A L Kostin, chairman, Vnesheconombank, during the visit of prime minister A B Vajpayee to Russia.

Under the line of credit, Russian importers will have to make advance payment of 10 per cent of contract value and credit will be provided for the 90 per cent of the contract value to the Russian bank by the Exim Bank.

Indian exporters will be reimbursed by Exim Bank on shipment of goods to Russia. The maximum repayment period for the credit for capital and engineering goods is five years and for industrial manufactures and consumer durables is two years.

 

The credit line is aimed at promoting India's exports of bulk drugs, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, transport equipment and other eligible goods to Russia.

India's export to Russia declined by 6.3 per cent to $889.18 million in 2000-01. India's main exports to Russia are ready-made garments, tea, drugs, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and fabrics.

Vnesheconombank is a specialised bank of the Russian Federation ensuring centralised foreign economic co-operation, servicing sovereign foreign debt, granting state credits and issuing guarantees on behalf of the Government of Russia. Vnesheconombank is the only Russian bank which has a presence in India by way of a representative office in Mumbai.

It has a corporate customer base comprises large enterprises of the Russian industry, foreign trade companies and associations. India had a trade surplus of $375.04 million with Russia in 2000-01.