'ECGC to offer direct factoring facility for MSMEs'

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SME Times News Bureau | 23 Apr, 2014
State-owned Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) will be offering direct factoring facility for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the second quarter to help meet their working capital requirements, reports media.

"ECGC is going to offer direct factoring facility for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the second quarter of the current financial year," ECGC CMD, N. Shankar told media on the sidelines of a programme in Hyderabad on Monday.

The corporation paid out cash claims for an aggregate amount of Rs 898 crore against the premium of Rs 1,304 crore during 2013-14, to Indian exporters and banks.

He said the PSU may open three more branches shortly in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kollam. Currently, it has a network of 62 offices including one overseas office.

Speaking to a issue on rating of Ukraine, following the crisis over there, Shankar said, "We will have to review the rating for Ukraine. We will be reviewing it now. It will be done shortly." ECGC provides export credit insurance facilities to Indian exporters and banks.

Ukraine is India's second-largest trading partner in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after Russia. In 2012-13, India's total trade with Ukraine was USD 3.18 billion, of which, exports were USD 519 million and imports were USD 2.65 billion.

ECGC determines export credit insurance premium on the basis of ranking from A to D it allots to each country. The lower the ranking the higher the premium.

"Ukraine issue...we will have to take the latest situation. We give ranking from A to D. Suppose the classification goes down (for any country), the premium price may go up. I do not want to guess what the ranking would be for Ukraine," Shankar said when asked about the possibility of downgrading the Eastern European nation.