On the sidelines of the first BRICS Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, New Development Bank and the Government of India co-hosted a seminar in Jaipur on the role of the NDB in mobilising private capital in member countries.
The session brought together Union Finance Minister H.E. Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, NDB President H.E. Mrs. Dilma Rousseff, DEA Secretary Ms. Anuradha Thakur, and FICCI Senior Vice President Mr. Vijay Sankar.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set the tone in her keynote address highlighting that BRICS economies are major growth engines, but unlocking private capital at scale takes more than available funds. It takes confidence, stability and credible long-term frameworks. Public capital, she noted, should act as a catalyst for private investment, not be a substitute for it.
“Private capital mobilisation is not only about finance,” said NDB President Dilma Rousseff. She pointed to local-currency financing, including NDB’s planned Indian Rupee bond programme, and an expanding toolkit of guarantees and blended finance as the channels through which the Bank will keep encouraging greater private participation in infrastructure and sustainable development.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by Ms. Anjali Bansal, Founding Partner of Avaana Capital. Panellists included Mr. Ajay Seth, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and Ex-Finance Secretary, Government of India; Mr. Roman Serov, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, NDB; Mr. Alessandro Teixeira, Partner and Head, Asia and Pacific Markets, Sertrading; Mr. Yongping Zhai, Senior Advisor, Tencent; and Mr. Pankaj Sindwani, Managing Partner, Tata Capital Decarbonisation Fund.
The conversation offered concrete ideas – from advancing “green plus digital” priorities to blending concessional and commercial capital more effectively, deploying guarantee instruments, and expanding local-currency financing.
Dr. Rajiv Ranjan, Vice-President and Chief Administrative Officer, New Development Bank, and Ms. Anu P. Mathai, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India delivered the closing remarks.