Rakesh Shah, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), said the RBI's credit policy would not help engineering goods exporters hit the export target of $100 billion by 2016 as set by President APJ Abdul Kalam.

For the current fiscal, the EEPC is aiming for a target of $24 billion.

At the golden jubilee celebration of the EEPC earlier this month, Kalam had urged the EEPC to set itself an export target of $100 billion of engineering goods by 2016. He gave a nine-point roadmap, stressing the need to review procedures, duties and levies.

Shah said the RBI has not addressed the export credit needs of SMEs, which face high transaction costs.

"The EEPC has been receiving a number of complaints from its members regarding the apathy of banks towards export credit. Need-based financing of consignment exports is now becoming an indispensable pre-requisite but the current policy is rather inadequate," Shah said.

Exporters with EEFC or export earner foreign currency accounts should be allowed to open short-term fixed deposits with their foreign exchange earnings and the interest on such fixed deposits should be linked to the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor, the most widely-used benchmark for short-term interest rates worldwide.

He said making terms and conditions flexible for exporters in the SME sector can boost exports and help them achieve the $100 billion target by 2016.

He pointed out that exports of engineering goods would have to grow by 20% a year up to 2010 and then by 14%, if the $100 billion target is to be hit.

Exports of engineering goods from India are expected to touch $24 billion by the end of this fiscal.

Till October, the exports had already fetched $13 billion, against $10.1 billion in the

corresponding period last year.