Giving a major relief to exporters, hit by the recession in the US and Europe, the Reserve Bank has extended the time period for concessional interest rates for overseas shipments.

The rupee export credit interest rate scheme, under which exporters get loan at 250 basis points lower than the prime lending rate, has been extended till April 30, 2009. It was to expire by this month-end.

With the extension, the ceiling on interest rates on pre-shipment rupee export credit up to 180 days and post-shipment rupee export credit up to 90 days are pegged at Benchmark Prime Lending Rate minus 2.5 per cent.

With several sectors such as carpets, tea and handicraft putting up a dismal show, the overall export growth in September this fiscal slipped to a little over 10 per cent from 26.9 per cent in August.

The country's exports during the first five months of this fiscal had shown growth of 35.1 per cent.