Punjab National Bank (PNB) has empanelled Coface India, the Indian arm of a French firm, to recover dues of their exporter clients from overseas defaulters. According to senior company officials, exporters who have been financed by the bank often face difficulty in recovering money from their overseas buyers and, hence, Coface will help them recover the money. “PNB has roped in Coface to recover debt overseas for their clients in India,” Samuel Jesuratnam, country manager for Coface India Credit Management Services, said.

According to him, the overseas debt recovery market for Indian clients is unorganised and, hence, there is a lot of business for such professional firms. “We are looking at adding another 3-4 banks by end of this financial year,” he added. The company has ¤370 billion of outstanding risk on their books for the credit insurance they provide globally. India contributes around one per cent of the total business with ¤3.5-4 billion. The company claims to be the third largest credit insurance company after the government-sponsored Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India.

The amount of claims that the company got every month at the peak of the recent credit crisis was ¤200 million. According to Jesuratnam, the claims (losses) have now come back to the pre-crisis level of ¤60-70 million per month.

The company offers credit insurance to Indian companies through general insurance companies like ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Bharti AXA General Insurance, Iffco Tokio Marine General Insurance Co. and Universal Sampo General Insurance Co.

snehashah@mydigitalfc.com