Government should set up private equity corpus of Rs 5,000 crore for maritime projects: Piyush Goyal

MUMBAI: The government should facilitate the setting up of a private equity corpus of Rs 5,000 crore which will help maritime projects and encourage private investments in the sector, Piyush Goyal, minister for coal, power, new and renewable energy said Friday.

"If PSUs make a corpus in the form of a private equity fund and also involve international PE funds, if we raise $100-$200 million (or about Rs 1000 crore) in India and on that basis raise Rs 4,000 crore Rs 5,000 crore additionally from overseas, funds from that corpus can be invested in different projects, based on the individual merit of each project," he said on the sidelines of the Maritime India Summit.

"This will make for faster implementation of projects. Investment from government money will also encourage the private sector to feel, the government is fast-tracking and not delaying projects. This can be a win-win form of public-private partnership," he said.

Speaking on inland water transportation and coastal shipping earlier in the day, Goyal said the shipping industry can help reduce the import of thermal coal by the power and coal industries. He added that he wants India to completely stop the import of coal over the next two to three years.

Goyal added India has cut imports by about Rs 28,000 crore last year and has the ability to reduce them by an additional Rs 40,000 crore.