BRICS economies, despite being major engines of global growth, face common structural challenges in mobilising private capital at scale, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday, calling for stronger, stable and predictable frameworks to encourage sustained private investment.
FM Sitharaman made the remarks while delivering the keynote address at a seminar on “The Role of the New Development Bank in Mobilising Private Capital in Member Countries”, held on the sidelines of the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting in Jaipur.
Former Brazilian President and New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff delivered a special address at the seminar. Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur and FICCI Senior Vice President Vijay Sankar also participated.
FM Sitharaman highlighted the role of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in de-risking investments, improving project bankability and strengthening investor confidence, thereby enabling private capital to flow into development projects at scale.
Public investment as a catalyst for private capital
Sharing India’s experience, FM Sitharaman said the government had strengthened the country’s infrastructure ecosystem through sustained public capital expenditure and complementary structural reforms.
Public investment has expanded significantly over the past decade, she said, with resources directed towards highways, railways, ports, logistics networks, digital infrastructure and energy systems.
The Finance Minister emphasised that public capital should act as a catalyst rather than a substitute for private investment.
She highlighted several measures undertaken by the government to encourage private participation in infrastructure, including Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for financially constrained but socially desirable projects, the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for balanced risk-sharing in road infrastructure and credit enhancement mechanisms to improve project bankability.
FM Sitharaman also pointed to Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) as a mechanism for recycling capital and attracting long-term institutional investors, while the National Infrastructure Pipeline provides greater visibility to investors over long-term infrastructure opportunities.
The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multimodal Connectivity, she said, has further improved coordination and efficiency in infrastructure development.
Budget 2026-27 measures
FM Sitharaman said the Union Budget 2026-27 had introduced several targeted measures to facilitate greater private-sector participation.
These include the development of new Dedicated Freight Corridors and High-Speed Rail Corridors, operationalisation of new National Waterways and a Coastal Cargo Promotion Scheme.
She said these measures were aimed at strengthening infrastructure capacity and creating opportunities for private investment.
BRICS faces common challenges
The Finance Minister noted that BRICS countries represent major growth engines of the global economy but face similar structural constraints when attempting to mobilise private capital on a large scale.
She said the challenge is not simply the availability of capital but the creation of confidence, stability, predictability and credible long-term frameworks that can unlock sustained private-sector participation.
FM Sitharaman said the future of development finance would depend on partnerships among multilateral institutions, national governments and the private sector, with each bringing distinct strengths to the development process.
Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur, in her welcome address, said the seminar was particularly relevant as development finance enters a phase where greater scale needs to be matched with resilience.
She said capital mobilisation cannot depend solely on favourable market conditions and must instead be supported by durable institutional and policy frameworks. Multilateral cooperation can play an important role in strengthening such frameworks, she added.
Policymakers, financial institutions participate
The seminar brought together senior policymakers, representatives of multilateral institutions and private-sector leaders from BRICS countries.
A panel discussion featured IRDAI Chairman Ajay Seth, New Development Bank Vice-President Roman Serov, Sertrading’s Alessandro Teixeira, Tencent Senior Advisor Yongping Zhai and Tata Capital Decarbonisation Fund’s Pankaj Sindwani, among other representatives from BRICS countries, financial institutions, think tanks and academia.
The discussions focused on mechanisms through which development finance institutions can help reduce investment risks, improve project viability and attract greater private capital to infrastructure and other development priorities across BRICS member countries.
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