India to invest up to $10 bn to supplement IMF resources

I / London September 5, 2009, 13:33 IST

As part of efforts to have a greater say in the running of the international financial institutions, India has decided to invest up to $10 billion from its reserves to supplement the IMF resources.     

"India has decided to invest up to 10 billion dollars of its reserves in notes issued by the IMF," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here last night after the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) ministerial meeting ahead of a G-20 conference.     

Mukherjee said "the G-20 egged governments on to adopt an aggressive monetary and fiscal stance, and was particularly successful in raising reforms for International Financial Institutions that played a major role in stabilising developing country markets.     

The communique issued at the end of the BRIC Finance Ministers' meeting said "for us, IMF notes or bonds are the best option to provide immediate resources to the IMF without undermining the quota reform process.     

"We are together contributing $80 billion to supplement the resources of the IMF. The IMF is a quota-based institution and should remain so. We propose that the next quota review should at least double the overall size of quotas."   

China accounts for $50 billion of the $80 billion contribution and the rest would be borne by India, Russia and Brazil.     

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega told newsmen that the BRIC countries would like to have a greater say in the running of the IMF and other international financial institutions such as the World Bank and are prepared to have a larger share of quotas and voting.     

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined part of the meeting, which Mukherjee said was an acknowledgement of the group's emergence as a key voice in global economic and financial issues.