Rs 25cr To Be Raised For India Brand Fund

At a seminar organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, commerce minister B B Ramaiah said the names of the trustees to the fund will be notified in 10 days and the fund will start functioning in two weeks. Ramaiah said there was a need to project India's image through concerted efforts by the public and private sectors as brand image was a major source of value addition in international trade. He expressed the hope that the total corpus of the fund will touch Rs 500 crore in two-three years.

Commerce secretary Tejendra Khanna said: The SILs will be sold at a premium of 10 per cent and we hope to raise an additional Rs 25 crore.