India has extended its government-backed export insurance scheme for West Asia shipments until March 31, 2027. The programme – known as RELIEF, or Resilience and Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation – has been extended multiple times since it launched in March 2026. It is administered by ECGC Ltd under the Export Promotion Mission.
For brokers with Indian exporter clients who ship to the Gulf, the scheme’s structure is worth knowing in detail. The largest share of its budget is specifically for exporters who had no commercial cover in place when the crisis began.
RELIEF was approved on March 19, 2026, in response to freight and war-risk premium surges following the escalation of conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s press release cited “heightened insurance premia and war-related export risks arising from disruptions in the Gulf and wider West Asia maritime corridor” as the basis for the scheme.
It covers shipments destined for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran and Yemen – for delivery or transshipment.
Three components target different parts of the exporter base.
Component I provided up to 100% risk cover above standard ECGC terms for shipments dispatched between February 14 and March 15, 2026.
Component II – the part now extended to March 2027 – provides up to 95% credit risk cover for qualifying new shipments, above ECGC’s standard 80% to 90% cover level. The government absorbs the additional premium cost and reimburses ECGC directly for claims that go beyond its usual policy limits.
Component III targets MSME exporters who held no ECGC insurance during the disruption period. They can claim reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible additional freight and insurance costs, capped at ₹50 lakh per exporter.
Of the scheme’s total ₹497 crore allocation, ₹282 crore is ring-fenced for Component III – the largest single portion, according to Maritime Gateway.
ECGC maintains a real-time dashboard to track claims and fund utilisation.
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The conditions that created that gap have not improved.
War-risk premiums for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz have risen to between 7.5% and 10% of hull value, up from a prior range of 1% to 3%, according to S&P Global data reported by Al Jazeera. The freight rate for crude oil shipped from the Gulf to China currently sits at roughly four times the five-year average of US$18.91 per metric tonne. Insurance on a single 270,000-metric-tonne tanker has reached approximately US$21 million.
Simone Krummaker, associate professor of insurance at Bayes Business School in London, told Al Jazeera that cover is available but rarely on standard terms.
“Cover generally remains available for many voyages through Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, but often on restrictive terms and at prices that can materially change the economics of a voyage. Insurance is therefore coming in as a commercial constraint,” Krummaker said.
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Some exporter associations have already moved to reduce their exposure rather than seek additional cover. The Indian Rice Exporters Federation advised members to shift away from CIF contracts for Gulf destinations and transact on FOB terms instead, according to BigMint. Under FOB, the insurance obligation passes to the buyer.
FOB terms reduce an exporter’s direct insurance need but they do not remove the underlying risk. For brokers, they also reduce the opportunity to place cover – unless the client or their counterparty is approached directly.
The more immediate question is whether smaller clients know Component III is there. MSME exporters who shipped to Gulf markets without ECGC cover during the disruption period may still be eligible to claim. The scheme runs to March 2027.
