Exporters and importers of Andhra Pradesh in particular, and the country in general, should make use of the many products and services being offered by State Bank of India, according to Deputy Managing Director, Chalasani Venkat Nageswar, who looks after the bank's overseas operations.

He said this while interacting with the Exim trade here on Monday evening.

He said that with the merger of six associate banks on April 1, SBI had emerged as one of the top 50 banks in the world, opening up more opportunities abroad.

About 50 exporters and importers from across the State representing pharma, agro-processing, aquaculture, marine, steel and granite units participated in the meet.

He said exporters should have a clear-cut risk policy in place and hedge their risks. They should not indulge in speculation.

Nageswar later told reporters that SBI had transformed into a world-class bank to provide integrated and complete global trade solutions and value-added services. SBI's basket of products included export credit, e-forex, fx-out (forex outward remittance), e-trade and FCNB (foreign currency non-repatriable) loans.

Stating that SBI had 191 offices spread across 36 countries with centralised processing of export bill collection at GLS (Global Link Services) in Mumbai, and correspondent banking relationship with 346 reputed international banks in 88 countries, he said all the NRIs and people of Indian origin prefer the premier bank to meet their business and personal needs.

Rice exporters from Kakinada said roughly 2 million tonnes of rice was being exported annually from the port and SBI should do more to facilitate exports from the port towns.

Vanka Ravindranath, an exporter of processed human hair from Tanuku in West Godavari district, said he had obtained an unsecured loan of Rs 1 lakh from a branch of SBI here in 1989 and started his business from the small town, setting up a unit in the industrial estate there. He is now one of the leading exporters in the country. He thanked the bank for encouraging small exporters.

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