Product to cater to both domestic and overseas trade credit requirements
Bharti AXA General Insurance and Coface South Asia Pacific today announced the signing of an agreement to build and provide Trade Credit Insurance
to customers in India. The alliance will leverage the combined
technical and product expertise of the two companies to develop
solutions that suit the business environment in India. Coface will also
provide reinsurance support, risk evaluation and underwriting expertise
as a part of the agreement.
Credit Insurance is a financial risk management
tool which covers the losses sustained by a firm because of the
non-payment of a trade debt. The product enables companies to extend
better credit terms to customers and increase exports to them. Amongst
other covers it also protects against the risk of payment default which
may affect profitability of businesses.
Under the product developed by Bharti AXA GI and Coface India, coverage
is provided up to 90% of the invoice value and covers loss due to
insolvency of a buyer, non-payment or protracted default by a private
buyer, political risks such as war or riots, government measures that
prevent performance of contractual obligations and cancellation of
import license, amongst others.
Commenting on the alliance, Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA General Insurance
Co. Ltd said, "We are glad to partner with Coface to provide credit
insurance to our customers. Our product is specially designed to provide
comprehensive protection against the risk of payment default for
companies that are selling their goods or services on credit to both
domestic and overseas buyers. It has always been our aim to provide the
best services and solutions to our customers and we believe that with
our joint expertise we can truly redefine the market with our innovative
insurance solutions."
Jean-Claude Speitel, Regional Managing Director of Coface South Asia
Pacific commented, "Coface has a historic relationship with the AXA
Group dating back to the time when they held substantial shares of
Coface and we have on-going partnerships in the field of Trade Credit Insurance
in Asia. In light of the above; we are pleased to be able to expand our
relationship with Bharti-AXA in India by providing them technical
support in the field of Trade Credit Insurance".
He further mentioned that, "Coface has been present in India since 2000
and we have since seen a steady growth in the interest in Trade Credit Insurance and Credit Management Services which seemed to have increased during the Global Credit crisis in 2009. Bharti AXA and Coface will jointly offer Indian Companies world class services in the field of Trade Credit Insurance, enabling them to 'Trade Safely' and expand their domestic and export sales."
Both AXA and Coface are amongst the top insurers world wide for Trade Credit Insurance. Trade credit insurance also provides the advantage of peace of mind, confidence to explore of new markets, cash flow relief as well as credit relief through access to professional credit analysts.
The trade credit insurance market in India is very specialized and the total market size is estimated to be USD 50 million of Premium.
