Trade Credits

Raising of loans as Trade Credit

1 Trade Credit: Trade Credits refer to the credits extended by the overseas supplier, bank and financial institution for maturity up to five years for imports into India. Depending on the source of finance, such trade credits include suppliers’ credit or buyers’ credit. Suppliers’ credit relates to the credit for imports into India extended by the overseas supplier, while buyers’ credit refers to loans for payment of imports into India arranged by the importer from overseas bank or financial institution. Imports should be as permissible under the extant Foreign Trade Policy of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

2 Routes and Amount of Trade Credit: The available routes of raising Trade Credit are mentioned below:

2.1 Automatic Route: ADs are permitted to approve trade credit for import of non-capital and capital goods up to USD 20 million or equivalent per import transaction.

2.2 Approval Route: The proposals involving trade credit for import of non-capital and capital goods beyond USD 20 million or equivalent per import transaction are considered by the RBI.

3 Maturity prescription: Maturity prescriptions for trade credit are same under the automatic and approval routes. While for the non-capital goods, the maturity period is up to one year from the date of shipment or the operating cycle whichever is less, for capital goods, the maturity period is up to five year from the date of shipment. For trade credit up to five years, the ab-initio contract period should be 6 (six) months. No roll-over/extension will be permitted beyond the permissible period.

4 Cost of raising Trade Credit: The all-in-cost ceiling for raising Trade Credit is 350 basis points over 6 months LIBOR (for the respective currency of credit or applicable benchmark). The all-in-cost include arranger fee, upfront fee, management fee, handling/ processing charges, out of pocket and legal expenses, if any.