Jaitley invites pension funds, other Japanese investors

Ban on large diesel vehicles a transient phase, says FM

Keen on investments from Japan to boost economic growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday met key ministers in the Japanese administration and wooed pension funds to partner in India’s infrastructure development.

Jaitley, on the second day of his six- day visit to Japan, met Japans Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso to discuss investment opportunities India presents to the Japanese investors. He held wide- ranging talks with Aso to boost bilateral economic ties, official sources said.

Jaitley also met Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motoo Hayashi on Japan partnership in Indias growth story.

He had separate meetings with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Yasuhisa Shiozaki and with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii. Ishii assured to look into Japanese investment in transport and infrastructure sector in India, sources said.

India is seeking investors for its newly announced infrastructure fund NIIF ( National Investment and Infrastructure Fund) that is being set up with acorpus of ? 40,000 crore to finance infrastructure projects, including stalled ones. NIIF will be partly funded by private investors.

The government and public sector entities will hold 49 per cent, with the rest is being offered to multilateral development banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other organisations.

Official sources said the bilateral issues of trade and investment were discussed during Jaitleys meetings here.

Jaitley also met Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito Party of Japan.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley played down the ban on registration of new large dieselpowered vehicles in Delhi, saying it is a “ transient” phase and India was a market large enough not to adversely affect auto companies.

He is scheduled to meet Suzuki Motor Chairman Osamu Suzuki on Tuesday. " I think the Indian auto sector is extremely comfortably placed. This is all transient phase which happens and I dont think that with the kind of large market that Suzuki has, it is in any way likely to be adversely affected," the minister said.

The minister said his trip was aimed at taking the India growth story forward with investors so as to make them invest in a host of sectors, including infrastructure.

"We already have over a thousand Japanese companies which have invested in India. (Japanese) Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe seeks to double it and therefore, I would be meeting individually as well as collectively a large number of investors." The finance minister on Monday denounced any attack on Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan and said the debate should be about the issues and policies, and not about the personalities. Jaitley, however, declined to comment on whether Rajans term would be extended after his current three- year tenure ends this September.

Rajan has been facing a continuous attack by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy and by some other sections, who have demanded termination of his service or at least denial of any extension while alleging the RBI Governor has failed to lower interest rates and boost the economy.

"I do not approve of any of these comments being made by anyone as far as the personality is concerned, because the RBI and its Governor is an important institution in Indian economy," Jaitley told PTI in an interview here.

Jaitley said RBI is an important institution and one can agree or disagree with its judgement. " A debate on issues" is fine but it should not be " converted into debate on persons," he added.

Business Standard New Delhi, 31st May 2016

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...

CA Online

Search This Blog