Modi targets black money, pitches for BRICS Bank by 2016

Four months after his BRICS debut in Fortaleza, Brazil, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the leaders of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa in the picturesque Australian city of Brisbane and underlined that the repatriation of black money parked abroad, that runs into billions of dollars, was “a key priority,” and linked it to security challenges facing the world.

Mr Modi, whose government has vowed to vow bring black money kept in secret bank accounts by Indians abroad a national priority, made a strong pitch for “close coordination” on the issue during an informal meeting of the five-nation BRICS leaders on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brisbane November 15.

Building on the architecture of the BRICS Bank fleshed out in Fortaleza at the July 15 summit, the Indian leader said that BRICS should set 2016 as the target for the inauguration of the BRICS Bank.

Using the twitter handle, the social media-savvy India’s ministry of external affairs, said: “At BRICS meet ahead of G-20 PM @narendramodi calls for ‘Close coordination on unaccounted money kept abroad’.” “Unaccounted money abroad is also linked to security challenges – PM @narendramodi ahead of G-20 Summit in Brisbane,” said another tweet.

Alluding to the sixth BRICS Summit held at Fortaleza, Brazil in July, Modi struck an upbeat note, saying it has “delivered – the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement”.

“These signal our collective capacities to create and manage global institutions. These can be effective in promoting sustainable development and bridge infrastructure gaps. We can be more aligned to local conditions and requirements. We should focus on next generation infrastructure,” he said, according to an official statement.

The Indian prime minister emphasised promoting “new models of governance and financing, while maintaining the highest banking standards.” “We should also make it more participatory and urged towards its early implementation. We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inauguration of this Bank.”

“We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year. We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the Presidency. The Contingent Reserve Arrangement is also a very timely initiative.

“The work on the Reinsurance pool among BRICS is also a welcome one. We hope that our officials will be able to come up with a concrete proposal by the next year. Besides these, we have started work on many other proposals that would deepen our relations and enhance our cooperation in all spheres,” he said.

The BRICS leaders’ sideshow on the sidelines of the G20 summit also saw a picture of BRICS bonding and camaraderie, and signalled to the world that the emerging powers’ club is not a glorified talk shop, but a serious exercise in recasting the global financial wonder.

The meeting saw Mr Modi congratulating Brazil’s President Dilma Roussef on her hard-fought election victory and a lot of smiling and amiable chatter among the leaders of the BRICS countries.

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Manish Chand

Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.