MUMBAI, APR 28: Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has come out with a lower net profit of Rs 164.99 crore for the year ended March 1999 as against Rs 201 crore in the previous fiscal. The fall in profit was attributed to provision of Rs 75 crore towards income tax following the withdrawal of the IT exemption status in the latest Union budget. The bank's disbursements also fell to Rs 1,271 crore during 1998-99 from Rs 1,370 crore due to sagging exports. However, export contracts supported by Exim Bank increased by 75 per cent to Rs 3,307 crore in 1998-99 and Indian companies secured 68 contracts valued at Rs 1,054 crore in multilateral funded projects overseas, Exim Bank managing director Y B Desai said here today.Stating that the income tax exemption status to Exim Bank has been withdrawn from 1998-99, Desai said the bank has accordingly made provision of Rs 75 crore. Desai said with the tax exemption gone, Exim Bank would be moving the authorities concerned for availing of the benefit of debtrecovery tribunals.Exim Bank has net non-performing assets (NPAs) of 5.4 per cent of its industrial loans given to export-oriented units. Desai said Indian companies have been doing well in project exports and in 1998-99, there was a surge in services exports with 21 Indian consultants being extended financial support jointly with Washington-based International Finance Corporation.Sanctions during 1998-99 amounted to Rs 1,838 crore. Exim Bank has set a target of Rs 2,000 crore for both sanctions and disbursements. Exim Bank would pay a lower dividend of Rs 33 crore to Union government against Rs 41 crore last year due to the incidence of income tax.According to Desai, several countries are seeking bank's line of credit in rupees for funding imports from India. Namibia wanted only rupee credits as its currency - the rand - has steeply depreciated in value, Desai said. In East Europe, Poland has expressed interest in rupee credits, while the bank has made offers to southeast Asian countries such asMalaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Phillipines for a similar facility.Exim bank would offer the rupee line of credit at interest rate between 12 and 13 per cent, depending on the tenor of the credit offered as well as the country risk. For a maturity period of one year the bank will charge an interest rate of around 12 per cent, while for a two-year maturity period the rate will be around 12.5 per cent.
