India assures investors of predictable policies

MELBOURNE: India today said it will follow predictable policies and address various investor issues including taxation, while inviting Future Fund, Australia's Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), and others to invest in the country.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on the last day of his 4-day visit to Australia, met Future Fund Chairman Peter Costello here. Future fund has assets worth AUD 120 billion.

According to Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri, the Fund has an investment of almost AUD 1 billion in India which it would like to increase.

"They are keen to grow that... They have few issues, Suri said.

During the meeting, he said, the Finance Minister heard the concerns raised by the Australian side in terms of taxation and some provisions.

Jaitley assured the Fund that the Indian government would take those issues on board and get back to them, Suri said.

The minister has given a strong clarifications to the Australian investors that his government was committed to clear an predictable policy regime, he added.

"The minister has said that they are committed to stable taxation regime," Suri said.

He said the investors were comfortable with India's macro growth story but had questions on specific of predictability of policies.

There was no reason for superannuation funds or other investors to worry about retro tax, he said.