Arun Jaitely not to attend BRICS summit in Brazil

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not attend the BRICS summit in Brazil next week as his presence will be required in Parliament for passage of the Budget.

"I am not (going for BRICS summit). Earlier I was supposed to, but I have cancelled it because the Budget session is there," Jaitley told PTI in an interview here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be leaving on Sunday for Brazil to attend the BRICS summit where setting up of a $ 100 billion BRICS Bank is high on the agenda.

BRICS is a group of emerging economies-- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa.

Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman will be accompanying the Prime Minister to Brazil.

Modi may have meetings with heads of states during the visit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Jacob Zuma and host Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff in Fortaleza, where the summit begins on July 15.