Claims from public sector banks (PSUs), which account for maximum business, reduced due to cut down in export credit during 2016-17. ECGC, formerly known as the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, paid Rs 679 crore to lending banks in FY17.
Premium income of ECGC fell by four per cent to Rs 1,268 crore from Rs 1,321crore in the previous financial year. ECGC, in its 60th year of operation, saw its business grow from Rs 1,35,000 crore in FY16 to Rs 1,41,000 crore during 2016-17.
Insurer posted a small rise in net profit at Rs 282 crore in FY17 from Rs 276.2crore in the previous year.
ECGC's solvency ratio, as on March 31, stood at 8.88 as against the regulator’s norm of 1.5. A majority of the claims came from agricultural products, engineering goods, gems and jewellery, readymade garments, basic chemical and pharmaceuticals, among others.
Claim settlement for gems and jewellery segment stood at Rs 40 crore, down from Rs 871 crore, in FY17. However, Geetha Murlidhar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of ECGC said, “A lot of defaults are in the pipeline. Claims are pending (estimate of Rs 1,000 crores). Hence, things have not stabilised”.
USA paid the highest amount of claims against any country followed by UK and UAE on higher exports. ECGC presently underwrites risk on 237 countries and maintains records of about 1, 25,000 active buyers all over the world, said Murlidhar.
