PM Narendra Modi to brainstorm with global fund houses on Thursday

20 top funds, India Inc brass to attend roundtable

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a virtual global investor roundtable on Thursday where he will engage and deliberate with top fund houses, business leaders, and policymakers on how to accelerate the growth of international investments in the country.

At least 20 of the world’s largest pension and sovereign wealth funds with total assets under management of about $6 trillion will participate in the roundtable. “These global institutional investors represent key regions, including the US, Europe, Canada, Korea, Japan, the Middle East, Australia, and Singapore. They will be joined by key decision-makers of these funds,” an official statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said.

It will also see participation from several Indian business leaders, including Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan N Tata, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, Sun Pharmaceuticals’s Dilip Sanghvi, and Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani, among others.

The focus of the “exclusive dialogue” is to assess their views on India’s economic outlook and structural reforms that are required to attract long-term capital into the country.

AustralianSuper, British Columbia Investment Management Corp, CDPQ, CCP Investment, Future Fund, GIC, Japan Post Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Korean Investment Corporation, Nippon Life, Ontario Teachers, PensionDanmark, PGGM Investment Management, DSP, Qatar Investment Authority, Teachers Retirement Texas, Temasek, and US International Development Finance Corporation are among the global wealth and sovereign funds that would be participating in the meeting, Tarun Bajaj, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), confirmed on Tuesday.

India has witnessed its highest-ever foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first five months of the current financial year. The total FDI inflow during April-August stood at $35.73 billion, 13 per cent higher than that in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The finance ministry, which is organising this global meet (VGIR-2020) along with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, said the foreign investors would also get a chance to have one-on-one interaction with the PM as part of the event over the next two weeks, during which they could voice their concerns.

The virtual conference will focus on the government’s vision for the path to a $5-trillion economy. The meeting will also provide an occasion to all stakeholders to further cement the strong partnerships that have been built and to foster engagement with international institutional investors who are looking to increase their Indian investments, the official statement said.

Giving an overview of the current state of economy, Bajaj said India had continued to see an uptick in the economy since the Unlock. “We are seeing an improvement in all parameters generally. And we are expecting further improvement in the month of November and this should continue. Hopefully, the economy should be back on track and it is moving much faster than what had been anticipated by a lot of experts and economists,” he said.

On the next economic stimulus package, he said discussions were underway as “we have received a lot of requests and comments from various sectors and we are looking into it. Very soon it will be unveiled. The finance minister will come out and speak to you on that".