Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the keynote address at the Seminar on 'The Role of the New Development Bank in Mobilising Private Capital in Member Countries' held in Jaipur on August 12, 2026, on the sidelines of the BRICS Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors Meeting. The seminar featured special addresses by H.E. Ms. Dilma Rousseff and participation from Secretary of Economic Affairs Ms. Anuradha Thakur and FICCI Senior Vice President Mr. Vijay Sankar.
Sitharaman emphasized the critical role of Multilateral Development Banks in de-risking investments, enhancing project bankability, and strengthening investor confidence to mobilize private capital at scale. She highlighted India's experience in strengthening its infrastructure ecosystem through sustained public capital expenditure and complementary structural reforms, noting that public investment has expanded significantly compared to a decade ago as part of a deliberate strategy to create productive national assets across highways, railways, ports, logistics systems, digital infrastructure, and energy networks.
The Finance Minister stated that the Government of India believes public capital must act as a catalyst rather than a substitute for private investment, and outlined multiple reforms implemented including Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for financially constrained but socially desirable projects, Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for balanced risk-sharing in road infrastructure, credit enhancement mechanisms to improve project bankability, Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) to recycle capital and attract long-term institutional investors, the National Infrastructure Pipeline providing long-term visibility to investors, and PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan for Multimodal Connectivity to improve coordination and efficiency.
Sitharaman informed that the Union Budget 2026-27 introduced several targeted measures to facilitate private sector investment including new Dedicated Freight Corridors, new High-Speed Rail Corridors, operationalization of new National Waterways, and a Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme. She recognized that while BRICS economies represent major growth engines of the global economy, they face common structural constraints in mobilizing private capital at scale, noting that the challenge is not merely capital availability but the creation of confidence, stability, predictability, and credible long-term frameworks essential to unlock sustained private participation across member countries.
In her concluding remarks, Sitharaman emphasized that the future of development finance lies in partnership, with multilateral institutions, national governments, and the private sector each bringing distinct strengths. Secretary Anuradha Thakur, in her welcome address, stated that the seminar was particularly relevant as development finance moves into a phase where scale must be matched with resilience, noting that capital mobilization cannot depend solely on favorable conditions but must be anchored in frameworks that endure, with multilateral collaboration adding lasting value to strengthening such frameworks.
The seminar brought together senior policymakers, multilateral institutions, and private-sector leaders, followed by a panel discussion featuring IRDAI Chairman Shri Ajay Seth, NDB Vice-President Mr. Roman Serov, Mr. Alessandro Teixeira from Sertrading, Tencent Senior Advisor Mr. Yongping Zhai, Mr. Pankaj Sindwani from Tata Capital Decarbonisation Fund, and representatives from BRICS countries, financial institutions, think tanks, and academia.