Industry body Assocham today asked the Finance Ministry to permit pension funds to invest 10-15 per cent of their corpus in infrastructure projects.
This way the government can meet the shortage of long-term funds for infrastructure projects, the chamber said.
"Infrastructure is a low risk, low return but adequately secured sector and therefore pension funds should be encouraged to invest between 10-15 per cent of their funds in such projects," the chamber said in a pre-Budget memorandum to the ministry.
It also suggested refinancing of existing rupee loans through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) for such projects based on interest cost advantage.
It further said that Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) should be treated as deemed listed companies and developer/investor should be entitled to reduced capital gains tax if they stay invested for a required number of years as per provisions of Income Tax Act.
