18 APR, 2012, RITURAJ TIWARI, ET BUREAU
NEW DELHI: Fertiliser ministry has sent a proposal to finance ministry for creating a sovereign wealth fund. This fund will help the government as well as private companies in the acquisition of mineral assets abroad.
"We have sent a proposal to finance ministry for setting up this fund. The 'size' of the fund will be decided by the finance ministry," said fertiliser secretary Ajay Bhattacharya. The fertiliser industry has been lobbying for a sovereign fund to support acquisition of assets overseas to bring down dependence on import.
"We need fund of $20 billion to acquire fertiliser assets abroad in the wake of rising global prices and shortage of fertilisers on the domestic front," Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) Chairman A Vellayan had said.
The Planning commission has also suggested setting up of a sovereign wealth fund with an initial corpus of $10 billion, mainly to invest in energy and mining assets abroad.
The fertiliser ministry is also exploring opportunities in countries like Canada and North Africa for sourcing potash.
It is also open to invest in potash and fertilizer companies of these countries.
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