Dun & Bradstreet, the world’s leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insight, in association with Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd (ECGC) today announced the ‘ECGC – D&B Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards 2012’ to recognize the contribution of the Exporters to the Indian economy. 

The occasion also marked the launch of the second edition of the premier publication ‘India’s Leading Exporters 2012’, which profiles the award winners of Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards 2012. Additionally, it provides an overview of the Indian export sector and trends in specific sectors. The publication also carries the findings of a primary research study conducted by D&B covering nearly 400 exporting firms whose exports aggregate to nearly Rs 80,000 crores. Based on the responses of these companies, the publication provides detailed findings about ownership structure, export and financial performance, export destinations, funding preferences, risk management practices and R&D investments.

Delivering the welcome address, Shri. Kaushal Sampat, President & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet said, “Exports are a vital cog in our growth engine without which we cannot achieve our aspirations of 9% GDP growth in today’s increasingly integrated global economy. The Government of India has continuously emphasised the role of exports in the country’s economy. Dun & Bradstreet & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) have partnered for several decades to serve the Indian exporter community, supporting them in their endeavours and helped them grow. The ECGC – D&B Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards are a manifestation of this commitment from these two organizations, towards growing India’s share in global trade.”

“Our publication, India’s Leading Exporters 2012, released in conjunction with the awards, reveals that the export revenue of the 400 respondents (in INR terms) grew by 32% over FY 11. The contribution of export revenue to aggregate total income of these companies also increased from approximately 23% in FY 11 to 28% in FY 12. Another interesting aspect of the study shows that exporters are focusing on innovation as indicated by 32% growth in Research & Development expenditure during the year”, added Mr. Sampat.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Shri N Shankar, Chairman cum Managing Director, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd, said, “ECGC with its 55 branches offers a wide range of credit insurance products to Indian exporters to cover the default risk of overseas importers and to banks operating in India to cover the default risk of Indian exporters. There is a compulsion in the current scenario of high current account deficit to reduce the trade gap and ECGC re-dedicates itself to play its role by updating its underwriting techniques, country risk rating model and improved IT system.  The Corporation intends to build its capacity to underwrite risk through increase in capital and robust Risk Management System.”

The Corporation is unique among its peers in international arena in that unlike other credit insurers, it offers insurance covers to lending banks, extends covers to sectors such as Gems & Jewellery and covers even repudiation risk of overseas buyers”, he added.

The publication India’s Leading Exporters’ was released by Shri S R Rao, IAS, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India at an event which was attended by dignitaries from Government of India, financial institutions, industry bodies, export houses, corporates, banks etc.

About ECGC – D&B Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards 2012:

The ‘ECGC-D&B Indian Exporters Excellence Awards’ was conceptualized, considering the growing contribution of exports to the Indian economy. The Awards Event is closely tied to the publication, ‘India’s Leading Exporters 2012’ that features the award winners and other leading exporters of the country. The awards provide an opportunity for ECGC and D&B to acknowledge exporters who have outperformed their peers w.r.t to themes based and special awards as mentioned below.

Winners of ECGC – D&B Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards 2012:

About India’s Leading Exporters 2012:

The publication profiles the award winners and runner-ups of Indian Exporters’ Excellence Awards 2012. Additionally, it provides an overview of the Indian export sector and trends in specific sectors. The nomination details of 368 companies that provided complete detailed information has been collated and aggregated to arrive at key trends of these leading exporters.  Some of the key highlights derived from this analysis are mentioned below:

• Among the sample companies,12% operated in the engineering goods sector, 10% belonged to the chemicals, petrochemicals & plastics industry, 9% operated in food & agro sector and 8% operated in the textile industry.

• Revenue generated from exports by the sample companies aggregated to Rs 796.7 bn which grew by 32.4% annually. The contribution of exports to overall total income also increased from approximately 23% in FY11 to 28% in FY12, reiterating the better performance of exports as compared to the domestic market. The contribution of exports largely represents the share of large companies which had just over 20% share in exports. The share of exports among medium and small companies was over 50% during the period.

• A sector-wise analysis revealed the fragmented nature of Indian exports with overall share of the top 4 sectors in the sample accounting for almost 50% during the year. On the growth side, food & agro sector registered a robust growth of 77.1% during FY12. This was followed by pharmaceutical and chemicals, petrochemicals & plastics products with 52.3% and 39.8% growth in FY12 among all commodity groups. Although gems & jewellery contributed maximum to the total export revenue, it witnessed a relatively slower growth of 18.5% during FY12.

• The strong focus on innovation was also visible among the sample exporters who increased their R&D spend by over 32% during FY12. Risk management also emerged as one of the key practises of exporters with most of the sample companies following risk mitigation measures through direct credit, insurance, bank guarantees or hedging.  Almost 56% of the companies had export credit insurance cover from ECGC.

The first of half of the year FY13 has been challenging for Indian exporters with cumulative exports from Apr-Oct 2012 declining by 6.1% over the corresponding period in US dollar terms.  However, we are confident that the Indian exporters will be able to reverse this trend in the coming months and achieve the USD 500 billion  merchandise trade target in the coming few years.

About Dun & Bradstreet (D&B):
Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB), the world’s leading source of global business information, knowledge and insight, has been enabling companies to Decide with Confidence® for 171 years. D&B’s global commercial database contains more than 205 million business records. The database is enhanced by D&B’s proprietary DUNSRight® Quality Process, which transforms the enormous amount of data collected daily into decision-ready insight. Through the D&B Worldwide Network – an unrivaled alliance of D&B and leading business information providers around the world – customers gain access to the world’s largest and highest quality global commercial business information database.

Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions to mitigate risk, increase cash flow and drive increased profitability, D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions to analyse markets, locate prospects and increase revenue from new and existing customers; D&B Export Marketing Solutions to gain significant insight into overseas markets and increase sales; D&B Learning Solutions to facilitate professional growth and excellence among their executives and D&B Economic Analysis Group to derive pragmatic and solution-oriented analyses of strategic economic and business developments, thereby aiding informed decision making.

D&B featured on FORTUNE Magazine's Most Admired Companies Industry List for four consecutive years (2006 -2009), ranking first in the Financial Data Services category. D&B ranked first in the areas of employee talent, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of management and use of corporate assets. In 2011, D&B featured on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list in the Business Services category by Ethisphere.  The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business “ethically” and translate those words into action.

For more information, please visit www.dnb.co.in

About Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd (ECGC) is a Government of India Enterprise which provides export credit insurance facilities to exporters and banks in India. Over the years, it has evolved various export credit risk insurance products to suit the requirements of Indian exporters and commercial banks. ECGC is the seventh largest credit insurer of the world in terms of coverage of national exports.

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