The Hindu Business Line : UBI road map to push export credit

United Bank of India (UBI), in a strong bid to ramp up its export credit exposure (now around 7 per cent) to the RBI's prescribed minimum level of 12 per cent of total disbursals, has started a fresh dialogue with exporters of the region.

The bank, which came back to the dividend list in 2005-06 after a gap of 14 years, now has a net NPA level of less than 2 per cent and in the current first quarter has recorded a 10 per cent growth in profit.

Facilitating export

Talking to newspersons here on Friday, at the sidelines of an interactive organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) (eastern region), Mr P.K. Gupta, CMD of the bank, said a major export stakeholders' meet has been planned by the bank in November in collaboration with FIEO to draw up a proper road map for export facilitation.

Suggesting that the bank would be having an interaction with exporters of the region for the first time, Mr Gupta said the purpose was essentially to understand all their problems and find solutions speedily. The bank is known to have strong credit exposure to the traditional tea and jute industries of the region.

Urging the exporters to view the bank as a perfect conduit for timely availability of credit and not as a problem, the CMD said UBI has now decided to give special thrust to export credit and the necessary internal skill-sets are being developed in a big way.

Direct contact

UBI is also the chairman of the State Level Bankers' Committee, which meets periodically to take stock of the credit requirements of industries in the region. He said the bank now had 17 SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Financial Telecommunication) terminals and Nostro accounts in 15 countries.

Stating that there will be more number of trained credit managers at regional offices, he said the bank has now shifted gears and was approaching exporters directly to improve the business prospects.

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