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FM seeks long-term foreign funds to push infra projects

It will help tackle NPAs of PSU banks also
Last Updated 04 February 2016, 19:07 IST

 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday sought foreign investment for India’s road, port, railways and energy sectors that require an estimated Rs 31 lakh crore in the next five years for their facelift.

Launching India’s first sovereign wealth fund called National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) here, Jaitley said that India presented a unique opportunity for several such funds from Canada, the US, the UK, Singapore and the UAE.

He also held closed-door discussions with several potential investors including European investment banks and the Abu Dhabi investment authority. His meeting with foreign investment and pension funds came amid the buzz that the government was persuing some of them for long-term risk capital to finance India’s stalled infra projects and tackle the non-performing assets of banks.

“The essence of NIIF is that it can leverage and bring a lot of money into the infrastructure sector. With the kind of response that we have been getting from our interaction with various funds, I have the confidence that in the coming years, say 2016-17 and thereafter, NIIF will emerge as a major vehicle in the infrastructure sector in the country,” Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said.

Sources in the Finance Ministry are of the view that one of the most important elements of dealing with large NPAs is to have a source of long-term stable equity risk capital that can get into some of the stalled projects, and be able to provide the equity support that they need.

This will also help banks clean up their balance sheets. The Reserve Bank of India has been urging banks to clean up their balance sheets, including accounting for potential stressed assets.

According to RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, this exercise is intended to put key stalled projects back on track. One of the major concerns of foreign funds before they start investing in India, is regulatory clarity.

YouTube channelfor Fin Min also

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched the official YouTube channel of the Ministry with a view to disseminate information on a real-time basis.

"Both at the ministerial level as well as at the level of secretaries and officials, there are a series of announcements and explanations with regard to where we stand in terms of the economy," he said after launching the platform.

"Therefore a platform where this entire material should be available...Our officers will continue to keep updating information and material almost on the real time basis," he added.

The initiative will help in disseminating information and activities easily to outside world through videos.


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(Published 04 February 2016, 19:07 IST)

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