Part I of this handbook discusses in detail all aspects of letters of credit:

• Types of letters of credit

• Opening and advising of letters of credit, including credit application and its processing

• Confirming and amending letters of credit

• Shipping, financial, insurance and commercial documents involved in letters of credit

• Negotiation and settlements

• Financing under letters of credit, and

• Responsibility of banks

Using a similar framework, Part II deals with collections equally comprehensively with collections.

This is a revised and expanded edition of a bestselling book by an expert banker which would serve exporters, importers and professional bankers both as an operations manual and a ready-reckoner on letters of credit and collections.

Packed with useful ready-reference tools :

• Operational checklists for credit openers; for issuing, advising, confirming and negotiating banks; and for beneficiaries.

• Common discrepancies in letters of credit.

• Answers to the most frequently asked questions about letters of credit and collections.

• Definitions of specialist terms specimen forms and illustrative examples.

• Full text of the articles of UCPDC 600 and Uniform Rules for Collections (UCR 522), given at relevant places throughout the book.

Raghu Palat is an acknowledged authority on investment, finance and banking and has written more than thirty extremely well received books on these subjects.

A great grandson of His Highness, the late Rama Varma, Maharaja of Cochin, and Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, a member of the Viceroy’s Privy Council and a former President of the Indian National Congress, Raghu Palat is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

A career banker he has held very senior positions with multinational banks in India and abroad. He has worked in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Raghu Palat is presently a banking consultant. He also manages a dedicated finance portal www.banking- rules.com which is a repertoire of rules and regulations relating to finance, commerce, corporates and banks. In addition, he conducts workshops on business etiquette, effective business writing, presentation skills, banking and finance.

Mr. Palat has also set up a portal for e-learning www.ibbc.co.in. The courses are an amalgam of laws, directives and actual real life situations.

Raghu Palat lives in Mumbai with his wife Pushpa.