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There is need for a scheme for promoting access to bank funds for the export sector similar to that which exists for the agriculture sector in the form of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), M Rafeeque Ahmed, President, Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), has said.
Ahmed said that it must be ensured that exports get 12 per cent of the banks lendable funds as stipulated by the RBI as against the existing 3.96 per cent.
A corpus of unutilised funds as is being put aside in the form of RIDF for agriculture needs to put in place for exports, he said.
Banks that are unable to meet their lending target for agriculture under priority sector norms are expected to deposit the shortfall in RIDF which is managed by Nabard.
Expressing concern at the state of the external sector, the FIEO chief said that while merchandise exports fell 3.7 per cent Y-o-Y in February after growing for the past seven months, non-oil imports witnessed a record contraction of 24.5 per cent Y-o-Y.
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