Jaitley seeks foreign investments for infra, other sectors

Hong Kong: Having put the MAT controversy to rest, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is now seeking to attract foreign investors, including large asset managers, to the Indian markets.

The controversy over levying MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) on capital gains earned in the previous years had spooked the foreign institutional investors, but the matter has been put to rest with the government adopting suggestions made by an expert panel against such a levy.

In his budget presentation earlier this year, Jaitley had clarified that MAT would not be imposed on foreign portfolio investors going forward, while the recent government move has addressed the concerns about the applicability of this levy for previous years as well.

After meeting the government leaders and investors in Singapore over the past two days, Jaitley is in Hong Kong for two days.

The Finance Minister, along with a large business delegation from India, including BSE chief Ashishkumar Chauhan and industry body representatives, today began meetings with private equity, asset management companies and other institutional investors here.

Jaitley will address the APIC-India Capital Markets and Institutional Investors Summit here tomorrow in his first visit to this global financial centre as India's Finance Minister.

He will seek to attract global investors to the Indian growth story being pursued amidst global financial markets volatility. He will also provide insights into how Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is tackling these challenges.

The Finance Minister would be pitching for overseas investments in various sectors, including infrastructure.

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets globally, despite a turmoil in most of the international markets, while foreign investors have been one of the mainstays of the country's capital market growth story.

He is also seeking investments from large overseas players, many of whom operate in Asia through Hong Kong and Singapore, for the capital-intensive infrastructure sectors.

PTI BJ RAM