India bank rolls out collateral‑free export credit
Union Bank of India launched 'Niryat Protsahan Yojana', a program offering collateral‑free working capital to micro and small exporters with competitive rates and digital execution via the Trade NXT platform. The scheme aims to ease export finance frictions by combining better pricing with a digital pipeline for transactions and documentation. That model reflects growing demand for embedded, productised working capital solutions tailored to SMB exporters. (x.com)
Union Bank framed the Niryat Protsahan arm so micro and small exporters can access lines up to ₹10 crore; the bank’s product page and multiple press reports list eligible groups as traders, merchant exporters and sectors including gems, jewellery, diamond and iron‑ore exporters. (unionbankofindia.bank.in) (indianpsu.com) The bank launched a second product, “Union Niryat Sugam,” aimed at manufacturer‑exporters and sized up to ₹80 crore, while excluding the trader/gems categories that Protsahan covers; together the pair creates separate paths for small exporters and larger manufacturers. (unionbankofindia.bank.in) (economyindia.in) Union Bank says pricing will be offered in both Indian rupees and foreign currencies and tied to external benchmark rates — an external benchmark being a publicly published reference rate (for example the central bank policy rate or a government‑security yield) that the loan’s interest margin is set against so borrower rates move with market policy. (indianpsu.com) (economyindia.in) The rollout aligns with a government Export Promotion Mission stream called Niryat Protsahan: the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and the Press Information Bureau published rules on January 2, 2026 creating an interest‑subvention (a direct subsidy on the interest charged to borrowers) and a collateral‑guarantee intervention (a government‑backed guarantee that can substitute for lender‑held security). (pib.gov.in) (content.dgft.gov.in) Union Bank is executing the products through its Trade Nxt portal, a digital trade‑finance platform the bank introduced in 2022 that handles letters of credit (bank promises to pay a seller on specified docs), bank guarantees, export/import bills and remittances — functions that reduce branch visits and speed document checks and disbursements. (unionbankofindia.bank.in) (livemint.com) The bank pitched these offerings from a position of scale: reporting in trade coverage that Union Bank ranks second among scheduled commercial banks in export credit with roughly a 10% market share, a data point the bank can use to cross‑sell exporters already on its trade stack. (smestreet.in)
