India may not be called to inject USD 10bn for Eurozone crisis

LOS CABOS: India may not be called upon to inject USD 10 billion (Rs 55,000 crore) into the IMF bailout fund to help the debt-wracked Eurozone tide over its financial crisis after it announced its contribution if the global economic situation gets better, an official said today.

R Gopalan, Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, said that the USD 10 billion dollar contribution announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G20 Summit yesterday is still considered part of the country's reserves and that the situation has not reached where a transfer of funds have been effected.

"It (contribution) is considered part of our reserves. The country may not be called upon to give the money if the world situation gets better," he said.

"India's contribution of USD 10 billion as part of the USD 75 billion pledged by the five-nation BRICS bloc to the IMF's additional firewall of USD 430 billion is a message to the financial markets that a firepower is available to meet the contingencies and to give confidence and calm the markets," the official said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said that he was happy to announce that India has decided to contribute USD 10 billion to the IMF's additional firewall of USD 430 billion