India Exim Bank's PAT rises 62% in FY24 to ₹2,518 crore

The Mumbai-headquartered financial institution, which finances, facilitates and promotes India’s international trade, said its total business for FY24 stood at ₹3.4 trillion, up 17.8% annually.

While India Exim Bank’s net loan portfolio stood at ₹1.6 trillion during FY24, up 17.2% annually, its total borrowings were ₹1.5 trillion, up 20.4% on year during the same period.

The loan portfolio’s growth in FY24 was driven by sectors like clean and renewable energy, automotive, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications, and other strategic sectors like e-mobility, high-tech, aerospace also saw growth, Exim Bank said in a statement.

“In terms of the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), with the improvement in asset quality and reduction in incremental slippages, the Gross NPAs declined significantly from 4.09% as on 31 March 2023, to 1.93% as on 31 March 2024, and the Net NPAs declined from 0.71% as on 31 March 2023, to 0.29% as on 31 March 2024,” it added.

Outlook for FY25

Addressing the media, India Exim Bank’s managing director, Harsha Bangari, said the bank will be targeting 10%-12% credit growth during FY25.

Bangari said while India Exim Bank is not looking at any capital infusion from the central government during FY25, it will prefer market borrowing during the ongoing fiscal, which would be a mix of domestic and foreign currency borrowings.

“It’s difficult to say how much (the market borrowing would be), but roughly it would be around  ₹60,000 crore,” Bangari said.

Meanwhile, the foreign currency borrowings would be around $3 billion-$3.5 billion, a mix of short-term loans, long-term loans, medium-term loans and other trade finance products, she added.

India Exim Bank extends Lines of Credit (LOCs) to enable Indian exporters to enter new geographies or expand their business in existing export markets, thus hedging payment risk from overseas importers. 

It also offers financial services to foreign banks and extends Indian government’s line of credit to other foreign governments, apart from financing new projects, and infrastructure development. 

Bangari said she is optimistic about global trade picking up during the ongoing fiscal (FY25).

“The Covid-19 pandemic did not help (global trade and Indian exports). Immediately after the pandemic, the other disruptions also didn’t help. But I think lots of measures are being taken (to improve our exports),” she said.

There’s a relook at our export basket itself, on how the composition can change to add more value, she added. 

According to the latest India Exim Bank forecast, India’s total merchandise exports are expected at $116.7 billion, registering an annual growth of 12.3%, during Q1 FY25 (April-June 2024).

During Q1 FY25, non-oil exports are expected to reach $93.9 billion, registering growth of 10.7% on year.

The forecast by India Exim Bank underscored an anticipated global easing of monetary policies, enhancing global demand and providing support to India’s export growth. 

Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization (WTO) recently projected the volume of global merchandise trade to increase by 2.6% in 2024 and by 3.3% in 2025, benefitting from easing economic pressures and rising incomes.

According to commerce ministry data, India’s trade deficit narrowed to $15.6 billion in March, down from $18.71 billion in February and $16.02 billion in January, marking the lowest deficit in 11 months, with April 2023 lower at $14.44 billion.

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Published: 13 May 2024, 10:34 PM IST