new delhi ,sep 29
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 4,400-crore capital infusion in the state-owned credit insurance provider ECGC Limited and its listing through an initial public offering.The government also approved continuation of the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) scheme and infusion of Rs 1,650 crore Grant-in-Aid over five years.Giving details of the decisions taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the government has undertaken a series of measures to provide a boost to the exports sector.In line with this, he said the government has approved capital infusion of Rs 4,400 crore to ECGC Ltd (formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) over a period of five years (FY 2021-2022 to FY 2025- 2026).The minister also informed that the country’s exports till September 21, 2021, this fiscal were at USD 185 billion and may touch USD 190 billion by the end of the first of the financial year.
The approved infusion along with efforts made to suitably synchronise with the listing process of ECGC through the Initial Public Offering will increase the underwriting capacity of ECGC to support more exports.Goyal said Rs 500 crore will be infused in the ECGC immediately and another Rs 500 crore in the next financial year. The rest would be need based.He also said the government will start the process to list the state-owned entity soon, and the IPO would hit the market during the next financial year.Replying to a query regarding the capital infusion in ECGC, he said: “If we are able to insure more people (exporters) and use the available headroom, then the funds would be made available as and when required. Cabinet has specifically said that first instalment be released immediately, second instalment will try to synchronise it with DIPAM listing process which is why I said next year because I expect the listing the happen next year…,” the minister said.As regards the percentage of shares of ECGC to be listed, he said it could be fresh equity infusion or disinvestment or combination of both.“…there is an established alternative mechanism which takes the decision in this respect. We will take it in due course,” Goyal added.ECGC Limited is a wholly-owned CPSE set up with the objective of improving the competitiveness of the exports by providing credit risk insurance and related services for exports.The company intends to increase its maximum liabilities (ML) to Rs 2.03 lakh crore from Rs 1 lakh crore by 2025-26.An official release in this regard said that the proposed listing of ECGC would unlock the true value of the company, promote ‘people’s ownership’ by encouraging public participation in the equity holding of the company and also promote Corporate Governance through transparency and greater accountability.
