T.C. Venkat Subramanian

Chairman, India Exim Bank

India wants to catch up fast with China's still booming economic diplomacy in Africa and at January's India-Africa Business Partnership Forum, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called for greater engagement and investment in Africa. Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh criticised the lack of resources for India Export-Import Bank compared to its Chinese counterpart.

India Exim Bank has six overseas offices, including representation in Singapore, Senegal and South Africa, and its current Chairman, Subramanian, is a veteran of the business. After working at the Bank of India and the Industrial Development Bank of India, Subramanian joined Exim Bank at its founding in 1982 and has been Chairman since May 2001.

Subramanian also chairs Global Procurement Consultants, an Exim Bank-led joint venture which has carried out procurement for World Bank-funded development projects in Eritrea, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda.

Letters of credit from India's Exim Bank total US$3.2 billion worldwide, a fraction of Chinese levels. Recent credits include $25 mn. to Madagascar in November, for rice and fertiliser projects. On 26 January Exim General Manager S.R. Rao signed a $25 mn. letter for the Elduem Sugar Project in Sudan (the first of $150 mn. promised). The following day, Rao flew to Addis Ababa to sign a $166 mn. credit (of a planned $640 mn.) to Ethiopia for rehabilitation of its sugar industry. Exim Bank also finances Indian films; Dhoom 2 (2006), partly filmed in Durban, South Africa, was a top earner for Bollywood.