The Commerce Ministry on Monday extended the RELIEF (Resilience & Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation) scheme under the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) until March 31, 2027, amid continuing geopolitical uncertainty. While exporters have welcomed the extension, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are seeking additional fiscal support, including freight subsidies, to cope with rising shipping costs and war-risk surcharges.
Under the extension, exporters can avail of Component II of RELIEF, which provides 95% risk coverage through the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) for upcoming shipments to specified regions, until the end of the current financial year.
However, MSME exporters have flagged the exclusion of Component III from the extension, saying smaller businesses without credit insurance will continue to bear the burden of rising freight costs and war-risk premiums.
“While Component II provides an ironclad safety net for insured units, thousands of micro and small enterprises operating without credit insurance are left to absorb crushing freight hikes and war-risk surcharges alone due to the exclusion of Component III from this extension,” said Vinod Kumar, president of the India SME Forum.
MSME exporters have urged the government to provide temporary fiscal relief, including freight subsidies, as they fear the geopolitical turmoil could persist. They said extending such support to all MSME exporters for a specified period would provide much-needed relief.
“We have asked for fiscal support to offset the challenges, including some form of freight subsidy beyond ports. Large corporates have greater bargaining power and can negotiate better rates. For MSMEs, however, negotiating prices and absorbing higher energy costs and freight rates have become challenging,” said Animesh Saxena, former president of the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) and an MSME exporter.
While some states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, provide freight subsidies, exporters want similar support at the national level.
MSME exporters have also called for a 24-month rolling RELIEF scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy, arguing that production and shipping cycles of six to nine months make long-term export contracts risky amid volatile logistics costs.
They cautioned that the March 2027 deadline could leave delayed shipments exposed to sharp increases in freight premiums, undermining exporters’ confidence in accepting international orders.
