Johannesburg: The State Bank of India and the India Exim Bank are helping businesses in African countries to fill the gap in trade finance, the South African heads of the two organisations told the India Entrepreneurs Forum (IEF) here.
The event was initiated by Consul General of India Mahesh Kumar who said it is the first of a series of ongoing engagements with the IEF. “We did this to assist all companies doing trade or some form of other business with India in their capacity building because generally for bigger businesses they are able to sort out their trade financing needs. For smaller business, a lot of issues look very difficult and insurmountable and they find the complexities of the trade world very bewildering sometimes,” Kumar said.
CEO of State Bank of India (SBI) Ashutosh Kumar and Shyamashish Acharya, Resident Representative at the Johannesburg Representative office of India Exim Bank, both explained the benefits of using their services in dealing with import and export trade between India and the African continent.
Meanwhile, India Exim Bank, represented by Shyamashish Acharya, discussed their Trade Assistance Programme aimed at closing the trade finance gap post-Covid. Operating in 31 African nations, their approach includes credit enhancement to empower commercial banks in underdeveloped markets, further solidifying India’s trade presence in Africa.
