The government is concerned about a 23 percent annual fall in export credit and will soon offer a new scheme to exporters.

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Speaking at the Board of Trade meeting in Delhi today, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said: "We are very concerned that it (export credit) has fallen. Surely very soon, we will come up with the contours of a very vibrant programme which will particularly support MSMEs, and more importantly make available foreign exchange credit available to as many as you are willing to take foreign exchange credit at very competitive rates."

Goyal added that forex credit will be provided at sub 4 percent rates. "We shall shortly be coming out with the contours that has been finalised among the RBI, finance ministry and commerce ministry," the minister added.

The new credit scheme will have a 90 percent insurance cover as against the current norm of 60 percent. The enhanced insurance cover is expected to give comfort to banks in lending to exporters.

As per government data, export credit in FY19 stood at Rs 9.57 lakh crore vs Rs 12.39 lakh crore in FY18.

The move comes at a time when exports have hit a rough patch. Exports declined by an annual 1.69 percent in the April-August period to $133 billion.

First Published:Sept 12, 2019 1:21 PM IST