The FINANCIAL — Shareholders of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have agreed to India becoming the Bank’s 69th member, setting the stage for an increase in joint investment with Indian companies in the EBRD’s regions.
The Indian government applied for EBRD membership on 18 December 2017, saying the step would benefit both the Bank and India. India will take a shareholding in the EBRD but it will not be a recipient of EBRD financing.
The EBRD’s Board of Governors, which represents all of the existing shareholders, voted in favour of India’s application.
EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said: “This is an important step in the relationship between the EBRD and India, allowing us to build further on already very close ties.”
The EBRD has long worked with top-class Indian companies on investments in the EBRD’s regions, which comprise 38 economies across three continents. The Bank has cooperated with Indian enterprises on joint projects worth nearly €1 billion, including investments with Tata, SREI and Jindal.
One recent example of cooperation is in Turkey where the EBRD and Mahindra & Mahindra are both shareholders in the Turkish agricultural machinery manufacturer Hisarlar, after Mahindra bought a 75.1 per cent stake in 2017. The EBRD has an 18.7 per cent stake in the Turkish company, according to the EBRD.
The total value of joint India-EBRD investments in EBRD economies currently stands at €982 million, with the majority of the transactions in the private sector.
The EBRD also works closely with leading Indian chambers such as the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. It recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In 2017, the EBRD signed an accord to strengthen ties with the International Solar Alliance, which was launched during the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former French President François Hollande as a platform for cooperation among solar resource-rich economies.
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