CALCUTTA, Aug 20: The Export Import (Exim) Bank of India is awaiting parliament approval to hike its authorised equity base from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

Bank executive director YB Desai said a Rs 500-crore government infusion was imperative to sustain its current annual growth rate of 25 per cent.

The bank's projections put the funds requirement for the next five years at Rs 6,000 crore. The equity base would, accordingly, be raised to Rs 2,000 crore, Desai said.

The bank is exploring ways to provide better services to exporters, he said. Traditional functions apart, which include post-shipment and pre-shipment credit, Exim Bank is mulling equity acquisition in Indian companies' overseas joint ventures. Desai said this would enhance the credibility of such companies among foreign banks in the host country. Desai said his bank's cumulative loans sanctioned and disbursed in the last 15 years stood at Rs 16,867 crore and Rs 14,197 crore, respectively.

Simultaneously, export bids and contracts supported by the bank during the period amounted to rs 98,000 crore and rs 14,600 crore respectively. Desai said that deceleration in exports had been a worldwide phenomenon during 1996, adding that preliminary data suggests that global exports during the first quarter of 1997 had also stagnated at the same level that of 1996.

Against this backdrop, he noted that for india, an export growth rate equal to world export growth during 1997-98 would be a realistic target for the country.

On the exports of services, which include computer software development, design engineering services, plant operation and maintenance services, and financial and managerial services, he said that exim bank has geared itself to meet the needs in respective fields.

Besides slashing pre-shipment and post-shipment credit rates, Exim Bank is also funding export-oriented projects. It is helping in marketing products overseas, upgrading products and increasing the capacity of plants. It is also helping Indian firms acquire overseas companies.

"By acquisition of overseas units we help the companies by giving them a foothold in that market," Desai said. Exim Bank is also selling information on markets, buyers and collaborators. Its Delhi office has on-line connection with 700 databases all over the world, apart from sharing information with its counterparts in other countries, chambers of commerce and boards of trade. (PTI) ¬Ut›è;¼Tt› to opt for short- term cover for their external commercial borrowing programme and borrowing in FCNR (B) category which will push up the forward premia modestly in coming days.

The corporates were not going for a cover earlier as the rupee was stable and all the more the forward premia would have neutralised the interest rate differentials between forex loans linked to London interbank offered rate (Libor) and the domestic rates.

The financial institutions will be more prudent now while lending the forex resources to corporates. `` We assess the company's cash flow in terms forex and rupee resources before lending forex resources and accordingly advise them whether to go for a cover or not,'' Kalpana Morporia, General Manager, Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India adding that we will continue to do that.

It would be difficult to put any band for the rupee movement, she said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.