RBI on Friday directed Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) to charge interest from exporters of labour- oriented and small scale sectors at 2 percentage points below the normal rate during this fiscal.
With effect from April 1, 2011 up to March 31, 2012 scheduled primary (urban) co-operative banks will charge, for specified export sectors, interest at 2 percentage point below the interest rates charged from exporters in other categories of export sector,” the Reserve Bank said in a notification.
The announcement comes in the wake of RBI’s decision last month to extend the 2 per cent interest subsidy on rupee export credit to such sectors to cushion them from slowdown in major markets like the US and Europe.
Exporters of handicrafts, handlooms and carpets were made eligible for the interest subvention to be available up to March 31, 2012.
The exporters in the small and medium enterprises across all the sectors are also be entitled for cheaper bank credit, subject to a minimum interest rate of 7 per cent.
The scheme was extended retrospectively from April 1, 2011.
RBI’s decision to extend the scheme to help exporters has been made against the backdrop of uncertainty in the global economic arena, arising out of renewed worries about the US economy and the debt crisis in Europe.
