The ministry of external affairs has come out in support of the move to allow Japan to pick up a 26% equity stake in the country?s multi-billion dollar urbanisation project along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
A department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) official told FE, ?the ministry of external affairs has reverted in support of our proposal. Several other departments and ministries are yet to give their views.? The DIPP, as reported by FE earlier, had moved a Cabinet note for this purpose.
After the Cabinet cleared the decision to transfer 51% stake currently with IL&FS and IDFC in DMIC-DC to government-owned financial institutions, Japan had shown keen interest to pick up a 26% stake in the project. Japanese investment of $4.5 billion in the project is proposed to be through two Japanese arms ? Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda in his recent visit to India discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
However, it is not clear who will pick up 25% stake vacated by the IL&FS-IDFC duo. When asked whether the department of financial services has taken a call on who will take the balance stake in DMIC-DC,the official said a final decision was yet to be made by the department. He, however, indicated that LIC and Hudco could be the ones to pick up this stake.
