New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, through the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), has operationalized a Rs 497-crore financial package under the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) to support Indian exporters impacted by geopolitical conflict and trade disruptions in West Asia. Titled the Resilience & Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation (RELIEF) scheme, the time-bound initiative is designed to cushion Indian businesses against escalating freight charges, marine insurance surcharges, and war-risk premiums along the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf maritime corridor. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) has been appointed as the nodal agency to execute the scheme and oversee claim disbursements.
Rising regional hostilities and security risks in the Gulf maritime route have compelled global shipping lines and marine insurers to impose steep extra charges, including Additional War Risk Premiums (AWRP), War Risk Surcharges (WRS), and Emergency Conflict Surcharges (ECS). Combined with forced vessel rerouting, longer transit times, and port congestion at regional transshipment hubs, logistics costs for Indian exporters have risen sharply. To prevent widespread order cancellations and maintain India’s market share across key trade destinations, the government structured the Rs 497-crore allocation into three distinct financial components targeting both past losses and upcoming shipments.
The first component provides enhanced export credit protection for policyholders already insured with ECGC, offering up to 100 per cent compensation for eligible losses on shipments dispatched between February 14 and March 15, 2026, while capping premiums at pre-disruption rates. The government has allocated Rs 56 crore to reimburse ECGC for payouts exceeding normal policy limits under this window. The second component, backed by an outlay of Rs 159 crore, aims to facilitate new ECGC coverage for prospective exports heading to affected West Asian markets between March 16 and June 15, 2026. Under this provision, exporters can secure coverage for up to 95 per cent of losses while benefiting from frozen, pre-conflict premium rates.
The third and largest share of the package, accounting for Rs 282 crore, specifically targets micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) exporters operating without ECGC insurance coverage. It provides a direct reimbursement of up to 50 per cent on additional freight and insurance surcharges incurred on shipments cleared between February 14 and March 15, 2026. Financial assistance under the MSME component is capped at Rs 50 lakh per exporter. The DGFT notification confirmed that claims across all three components will be processed through digital portals on a first-come, first-served basis, backed by real-time monitoring to ensure transparency and swift relief to affected trade sectors.
