Biggest sovereign wealth fund excludes ONGC from portfolio

The exclusion was announced by Norges Bank after a recommendation from the Council on Ethics, an independent body that investigates possible norm breaches in the wealth fund's $1.4 tn portfolio

State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp has been excluded from the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, due to the “unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to serious violations of the rights of individuals” in its joint ventures with South Sudan’s national oil company Nile Petroleum Corporation.

The exclusion was announced by Norges Bank late Thursday after a recommendation from the Council on Ethics, an independent body that investigates possible norm breaches in the wealth fund’s $1.4 trillion portfolio. The Norwegian wealth fund is the world’s single largest investor in listed companies, owning about 1.4 per cent globally.

The ethics council said that companies operating in situations of war and conflict must be particularly careful when there’s a known risk for norm violations.