Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday chair a conference with the world’s top pension and sovereign wealth funds to attract investment in infrastructure which had shrunk almost 15 per cent in the first half of the fiscal.
On the eve of the mega event the government on Tuesday granted Abu Dhabi’s Sovereign Wealth Fund — MIC Redwood 1 RSC — 100 per cent income tax exemption for investments in specified infrastructure sectors.
Economic affairs secretary Tarun Bajaj on Tuesday said the world’s top 20 pension and global wealth funds would participate in the rountable with the Prime Minister on Thursday.
The meet will also be attended by the top guns of India Inc, including Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, Sun Pharmaceuticals’ Dilip Shanghvi and Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak.
The pension and sovereign wealth funds have total assets under management of about $6 trillion and represent key regions, including the US, Europe, Canada, Korea, Japan, West Asia, Australia and Singapore.
The meet will focus on discussions around India’s economic and investment outlook, structural reforms and the government’s vision for the path to a $5 trillion economy. The event will provide an opportunity to leading global investors and Indian business leaders to engage and deliberate with senior policymakers on how to accelerate the growth of investments in the country.
Stimulus
Bajaj said the government plans to come out with another set of stimulus measures .
“We are actually discussing that. It is difficult for me to commit a date but 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,” Bajaj said.
Abu Dhabi fund
Income of MIC Redwood, the sovereign fund, from interest, dividend and long-term capital gains for its investment in India’s priority sectors has been exempted, the finance ministry said.
“Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) — MIC Redwood 1 RSC Limited — has become the first foreign SWF that has been notified and granted 100 per cent income-tax exemption for the long-term investments to be made in the specified priority sectors in India,” it said.
A tax official said that to expedite foreign investment in India’s priority areas during the pandemic , the process of notification of MIC Redwood 1 RSC was completed in a record time.
On September 18, MIC Redwood 1 RSC filed an application seeking tax exemption and the notification granting 100 per cent tax exemption was issued on November 2.
