The government launched the Rs.497 crore Resilience & Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation (RELIEF) scheme to provide credit insurance cover for exporters whose goods are stranded due to the West Asia crisis, or who are planning to export to the Gulf over the next few months. The insurance premia under this scheme would be at pre-conflict rates and the focus would be MSME beneficiaries.

While announcing the scheme, the officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry acknowledged the hardship being faced by Indian exporters due to the constraints created by the war in West Asia and said that the RELIEF scheme was aimed at alleviating this and providing them with surety about their exports.

In order to help exporters affected by stuck shipments, the government announced the RELIEF scheme, which would be a part of the Export Promotion Mission that was announced in Budget 2025 and that was implemented over the course of 2025-26.

The RELIEF scheme is to be in three parts, the Director General of Foreign Trade Lav Agarwal explained in the briefing. The first component, comprising Rs.56 crore, is aimed at exporters who already have credit insurance cover from ECGC Ltd. (formerly Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India), which is wholly owned by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Under this scheme, such exporters would be able to avail of insurance premiums at pre-disruption rates, and the cover would extend to consignments where the Onboard Bill of Lading or airway bill is issued during February 14 to March 15, 2026. It would also only apply to consignments bound for UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Israel and Yemen.

"ECGC covers loss due to war related risks and associated political risks in the affected countries", Mr. Agarwal said. "It also provides enhanced cover up to 100% of loss, subject to some conditions and verification". The Government would reimburse ECGC for compensation paid in excess of the amount payable under the existing ECGC policy cover.