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GCCI Organises A Seminar With EXIM Bank on 'Capacity Building Session on Export Opportunities from Goa

Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry in association with India EXIM . Bank organised a seminar on 'Capacity Building S e s s i o n o n E x p o r t Opportunities from Goa and E x i m B a n k ' s F i n a n c i n g Programme Ubharte Sitaare' on 8th June, 2022. The chief guest was Mr Ralph de Sousa, and EXIM bank senior officials Ms Chitra Raste, Deputy General Manager, Mr Mayank Khurana, Deputy Manager, Mr P r a s h a n t K u m a r , C h i e f Manager, Mr Sanjay Amonkar, Director General, GCCI were p r e s e n t . A r o u n d 8 0 participants benefited from t h e s e s s i o n . M s A m b i k a Dhakhenkar, Asst Director, GCCI compered and Mr Sanket Kaskar, Foreign Trade Officer, GCCI coordinated the event. Mr Ralph de Sousa, President, G C C I w h i l e g i v i n g t h e inaugural speech, mentioned t h a t G C C I , G o a ' s a p e x i n d u s t r y a s s o c i a t i o n , represents several renowned businesses houses from the state, and that collectively they raise various issues that concerns the overall growth and development of the state. Ms Raste, presented a brief history of the India EXIM bank, its operation and highlighted its presence globally in 7 different countries. While stating that bank's vision has evolved from product-centric to customer-centric, she said that, under its mission to facilitate globalisation of Indian business, 310 Line of credits, covering 66 countries with credit commitments of over US$ 31.96 bn have been extended. M r K u m a r , s p o k e a b o u t Ubharte Sitaare Programme (USP) of EXIM bank that identifies Indian companies that are future champions with good export potential. The identified Indian company s h o u l d h a v e p o t e n t i a l a d v a n t a g e s b y w a y o f t e c h n o l o g y , p r o d u c t o r process, but are currently under-performing or are not able to tap their latent potential to emerge bigger. The nature of assistance under the USP includes a mix of structured support, both financial and advisory services through (a) debt (funded and non-funded facilities) at c o m p e t i t i v e r a t e s a n d e l o n g a t e d t e n o r s ; ( b ) investments in equity / equity like instruments; and (c) technical assistance to Indian companies. The Programme is a n c h o r e d b y E x i m B a n k together with SIDBI and has an initial corpus of 1,000 crore. Selected proposals till date include various sectors such as auto components, consumer goods, industrial warehouse a u t o m a t i o n , G N S S s e m i c o n d u c t o r c h i p s & system, miiltary electro optical and infra red systems etc. He said that Goan MSMEs can avail this opportunity to scale up and have the ability to perform wonders in global markets through exports. Mr Mayank Khurana, Deputy M a n a g e r , E x i m b a n k presented an overview on the India ' s foreign trade which stood at USD 2432.5 million which is 0.6% of total country's export, and also spoke on export opportunities from G o a . H i g h l i g h t i n g t h e composition of Goa ' s top m e r c h a n d i s e e x p o r t s h e i n f o r m e d t h a t D r u g f o r m u l a t i o n , B i o l o g i c a l s constitute 47% of total exports which is the highest followed by Iron & Steel, Iron ore which together constituted 15% for FY22. Also, the data for export destinations from Goa showed that highest was done to USA, followed by 10%, 5% to China and UK respectively. He also mentioned that due to increased digital modes of work (work from home) and companies preferring Goa as one of the key destinations, services exports have the p o t e n t i a l t o g r o w exponentially in the coming years. Mr Rajkumar Kamat, President, Vibrant Goa Foundation, Chairman, GCCI Industry Committee summarised the whole event with taking excerpts from each session earlier. He concluded that Goa has huge potential eco t o u r i s m , a g r o & f o o d processing, I.T., GI tagged p r o d u c t s , O D O P e t c t o increase export output from Goa. He also added that various industry associations alongwith Government can be the facilitators and take up issues concerned with the exporters limiting the sector. H e a p p l a u d e d t h e G o v e r n m e n t o f I n d i a ' s initiative Ubharte Sitaare program through EXIM bank to select the niche players, talented and having great potential MSMEs to access the global markets. The Director General Mr Sanjay Amonkar informed that during discussions with the participants the Exporters opined that the Mormugao Port is not at all being utilised for exports due to stoppage of the Container service. To promote exports in the state more importance needs to be given to Exports. Govt of Goa should appoint a Secretary - Exports who will b a single point contact for all Exports related support be it Finance, logistics, basic infrastructure or promotion & coordination with the Central Govt Dept. Today export related matters a r e s p r e a d w i t h v a r i o u s Central Govt Dept & difficult to access. Infact the DGFT office is yet to reopen in Goa. It will be a welcome move for EODB in Exports for Goa to h a v e a S e c r e t a r y l e v e l administrator for Exports.