National Investment Board proposal likely to be taken up in next Cabinet meet: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said a proposal to constitute a National Investment Board ( NIB) is likely to be taken by the Cabinet in its next meeting.

Concerned over delay in implementation of mega infrastructure projects, Chidambaram had recently proposed a Prime Minister-headed NIB to accord speedy clearance to projects.

"(Cabinet) Note has been circulated to the ministries. We have given them a week to give their comments and it was indicated to me that it would probably come up in the next meeting of the Cabinet," he told reporters here.

Several large projects involving investments of Rs 1.5 lakh crore are being held up because of delay in statutory clearances.

At the meeting of full Planning Commission last month, Chidambaram had proposed that the NIB's authority should extend to proposals/projects where the investment is above a certain threshold.

Earlier in June, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved setting up of an investment tracking system to ensure speedy implementation of mega projects envisaging outlay of over Rs 1,000 crore.