Delhi sets up panel to fix weak uptake of RELIEF export cover

The commerce ministry has formed a six-member sub-committee to examine why exporters are not using RELIEF, the freight and insurance support window created under the ₹25,060-crore Export Promotion Mission^1, 2. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade announced the panel in a trade notice reported on 31 October^1, 2.

Three members are DGFT officials. The departments of commerce and financial services, and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC), nominate one each^1, 2. ECGC is the government-owned export credit insurer that handles RELIEF claims^3, 6.

The panel will review the progress of the three components of RELIEF, including the claims processed and the balance funds available as reported by ECGC. It will examine the factors affecting uptake and recommend measures for better utilisation of the approved funds^1, 2.

A window built for the Gulf disruption

RELIEF stands for Resilience and Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation. It was launched on 19 March 2026 to cushion exporters against sharp rises in freight costs and insurance premia, and against war-related export risks on the Gulf and wider West Asian corridor^3, 4, 5.

On 26 October the Commerce Department extended Component II, the insurance limb, to 31 March 2027 through a notification dated 30 September^3, 4, 5. The scheme had already been extended once, to 30 September³.

What Component II covers

Only Component II has been described in detail in the statements published so far. It offers 95% risk cover on ECGC policies obtained on or after 16 March 2026, plus protection against insurance premium increases above pre-disruption levels during the eligible period^3, 4, 5.

Standalone policies and whole-turnover policies both qualify. The cargo covered is full container load, less than container load and refrigerated containers. Energy shipments are excluded^3, 4, 5.

ECGC's business is export credit insurance, which protects exporters against payment risks⁶. Component II is written around that policy and its premium. The published statements describe 95% risk cover and protection against premium increases, not a payment against freight invoices^3, 4.

What a claim needs, and where it sticks

Claims and supporting documents go through ECGC's customer portal at www.ecgcltd.in⁴. ECGC has posted video tutorials on its YouTube channel covering user IDs, exporter registration and claim submission^3, 4.

Shipping line bills are the document exporters say they are unsure about. "We need more clarity on how to obtain shipping line bills that need to be submitted to avail of the scheme's benefits," a Mumbai-based exporter said³.

The public statements do not list the countries covered, referring only to "specified regions", and they give no component-wise outlay^3, 4, 5.

The bill exporters are carrying

Container rates on India to Europe lanes rose from $1,500-2,000 a container before the disruption to about $8,000. They have since eased to about $6,000-6,500, according to estimates from Morbi tile maker Varmora Granito. Rates to the US eased to about $5,500 from about $7,500⁷.

Container availability is the other constraint. Varmora said it now gets about 20 containers where it used to get 200⁷.

The corridor still matters at national scale. India's exports to West Asia were $4.2 billion in April and $5.01 billion in August, against $6.48 billion in January, according to commerce ministry data⁸.

A worked example

Take a mid-size exporter shipping 20 containers to a European port, holding an ECGC whole-turnover policy taken on or after 16 March 2026. At about $6,000-6,500 a container, the freight line alone is far above the $1,500-2,000 pre-disruption benchmark⁷.

Component II does not work off that gap, and the other two components are not described in the published statements^3, 4. What the scheme pays is the cover on an insured loss, at 95%, and the premium above the pre-disruption level^3, 4. The documents named in the public statements are the shipping line bills and the claim submitted on ECGC's portal^3, 4.

Whether the premium element is settled as a refund or as adjusted cover is not spelled out in the published statements^3, 4.

Dates and gaps to watch

Two dates matter. Policies must have been obtained on or after 16 March 2026, and Component II closes on 31 March 2027^3, 4. The Commerce Department said the extension is meant to sustain trade flows and cut exporters' exposure to higher shipping and insurance costs while geopolitical uncertainty persists^3, 5.

No figure for claims paid, funds released or the RELIEF allocation appears in the published reports of the trade notice^1, 2. The utilisation numbers will come from ECGC, according to the panel's terms of reference^1, 2.

What to watch: whether the sub-committee's recommendations are published, whether a country list and component-wise outlay follow, and whether freight rates keep easing from their peaks^1, 7.