RBI extends Interest subsidy scheme for exporters

10 March 2022
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RBI extends Interest subsidy scheme for exporters

With the aim of expanding export shipments, the Reserve Bank of India extended the interest equalisation scheme for pre and post-shipment rupee loans for MSME exporters through March 2024. The ‘Interest Equalisation Scheme for pre and post-shipment Rupee Export Credit’ provides a subsidy to exporters. The scheme was first extended until the end of June last year, and then again until September 2021.

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Important points:

• The interest equalisation rates under the plan have been revised to 2% and 3% for certain categories of MSME manufacturer exporters, according to the RBI.
• Scheme to equalise interest rates “The government has authorised the extension of the Interest Equalisation Scheme for Pre- and Post-Shipment Rupee Export Credit through March 31, 2024, or until further review, whichever comes first,” said the statement.
• The extension will take effect on October 1, 2021, and will end on March 31, 2024, according to a notification from the RBI. The scheme will not apply to telecom instruments or businesses that receive benefits under the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) programme.
• The bank will be required to provide the prevailing interest rate, the interest subvention being provided, and the net rate being charged to each exporter when issuing approval to the exporter, according to the RBI, in order to ensure transparency and greater accountability in the scheme’s operation.
• It further stated that beginning April 1, 2022, banks will cut the interest rate charged to eligible exporters upfront in accordance with the standards, and that claims must be submitted in writing within 15 days after the end of the fiscal year.

Russia has declared a "silence mode" and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of the civilian population

Russia has declared a "silence mode" and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of the civilian population from a number of cities, including Kyiv.

Here are the top 5 latest updates on this big story

1. Moscow has announced a new humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine on Wednesday to carry out the evacuation of the civilian population, as the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two surpassed 2 million. Russia said its forces will stop firing from 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT). This comes after civilians fled the besieged city of Sumy yesterday in the first successful "humanitarian corridor" opened since Russia's invasion. 

2. After 21 people, including two children, were killed in airstrikes on Sumy, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, on Tuesday condemned the Kremlin's "mass murder" of civilians, including children, in an open letter to the global media on the Russian invasion.

3. US President Joe Biden termed the package of economic sanctions enforced against Russia "most significant in history" and claimed that it has caused consequential damage to the Russian economy.

4. Starbucks, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo said they have decided to halt or restrict business in Ukraine, noting the growing human cost of the Russian invasion. Oil giants BP and Shell announced an immediate halt to Russian oil and gas purchases and the European Union planned to slash gas imports by two-thirds.

5. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday described the situation in Ukraine as worrying and called for "maximum restraint," saying the priority should be preventing the situation there from spinning out of control, Chinese state media reported. 

The number of people to have fled Ukraine has reached two million

The number of people to have fled Ukraine has reached two million

New Delhi: 

The United States led a Western assault on Moscow's economic lifeline Tuesday, banning imports of Russian oil as civilians fled besieged Ukrainian cities in a desperate evacuation push

Here are the top 10 updates on this big story

1. President Joe Biden announced a ban on US imports of Russian oil, gas and coal, saying Ukraine will "never be a victory for Putin". Britain said it will also phase out Russian oil imports by the end of this year.
2. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia's stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbour. Referring to NATO membership, Zelensky said through an interpreter that he does not want to be president of a "country which is begging something on its knees."
3. US intelligence chiefs branded Russian President Vladimir Putin an "angry," isolated leader craving global clout, frustrated about how his Ukraine invasion has not gone to plan, and lobbing provocative nuclear threats at the West.
4. The United States rejected a Polish offer to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via a US air base, saying the proposal raised "serious concerns" for the entire NATO alliance. Under the proposed scheme, those jets could then be deployed to Ukraine, while the Polish air force would receive F-16 fighters as replacements.
5. The European Union has announced 500 million euros for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, saying it had taken in two million refugees fleeing the Russian invasion so far and expected millions more.
6. International rating agency Fitch Ratings said it has downgraded Russia's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to 'C' from 'B'.
7. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have suspended their operations in Russia over Moscow's internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine. 
8. The BBC announced it was resuming English-language broadcasting from Russia, after suspending reporting as it examined tough new media laws. In a new statement, the corporation said it had "considered the new legislation alongside the urgent need to report from inside Russia".
9. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the number of people to have fled Ukraine in eastern and central Europe reached two million on Tuesday, amid renewed efforts to create safe evacuation corridors from cities under attack.
10. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet her US counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington today to discuss what more can be done to help Ukraine and reduce energy dependency on Russia