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The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has formally shifted the implementing agency for interest subvention support on pre-and post-shipment export credit under the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) – Niryat Protsahan from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank). The move is aimed at streamlining the administration, verification and reimbursement of interest support available to eligible exporters, including MSMEs in the pharmaceutical sector.
The transition follows a decision taken at the fourth Steering Committee meeting on the Interest Subvention Scheme. The scheme was initially operationalised through RBI on a pilot basis dated January 2, 2026, and was subsequently modified through a series of trade notices issued by DGFT.
Under the revised framework, EXIM Bank will function as the implementing agency for all operationalisation, portal management, verification and claim settlement activities from April 1, 2026. However, supplementary or additional claims submitted by participating lending banks for the January-March 2026 quarter will continue to be processed by RBI as legacy claims.
The change is relevant to pharmaceutical exporters, particularly eligible MSME exporters that depend on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit to finance raw materials, production, inventory, regulatory requirements and overseas shipments. The interest subvention is intended to reduce the effective cost of eligible export credit and support exporters in maintaining working capital for international business.
DGFT has clarified that export credit will continue to be sanctioned and disbursed by lending institutions in accordance with the applicable RBI Consolidated Directions on Credit Facilities. The interest subvention will continue to be passed on upfront by the lending institution to eligible MSME exporters. The key change is that banks will now submit their reimbursement claims to EXIM Bank instead of RBI.
According to DGFT, “Banks are required to completely pass on the benefit of interest subvention, as applicable, to the eligible exporters upfront and submit their claims for reimbursement to EXIM Bank, duly certified by an external auditor. This ensures that the benefit reaches eligible exporters directly while the lending institution subsequently receives reimbursement through the prescribed mechanism.”
The reimbursement process will continue on a monthly basis and will remain limited to the actual amount of interest subvention extended to eligible exporters, based on verified claims submitted by banks. EXIM Bank will also submit a monthly online report containing bank-wise reimbursement claims in the prescribed format.
Another important change concerns verification of claims linked to an exporter’s Importer Exporter Code (IEC). Under the earlier RBI framework, RBI scrutinised each claim to ensure that the IEC-specific claim submitted by a bank did not exceed the prescribed annual subvention ceiling per IEC. Under the revised arrangement, EXIM Bank will undertake the same verification.
After verification, EXIM Bank will approve the claims and submit consolidated fund claims to DGFT through the designated portal. This maintains the existing ceiling and verification safeguards while transferring the operational responsibility to the new implementing agency.
For pharmaceutical exporters, the transition means that banks handling eligible export credit claims will now coordinate with EXIM Bank for reimbursement-related processes from April 1, 2026 onwards. Exporters will continue to receive the applicable interest subvention upfront through their lending institutions, subject to the eligibility conditions and ceilings prescribed under the EPM framework.
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