Cabinet approves of proposal to establish a Fund of Fund for Start-ups (FFS)

The Union Cabinet has approved the following proposals with regard to the Fund
of Funds of Start-ups (FFS) which was established in June, last year with a corpus
of Rs. 1,000 crores.

 Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs) supported by FFS shall invest at least

twice the amount of contribution received from FFS in Start-ups. Further, if
the amount committed for a Start-up in whole has not been released before a
Start-up ceases to be so, the balance funding can continue thereafter.
 It was also decided that operating expenses for carrying out due diligence,
legal and technical appraisal, convening meeting of Venture Capital
Investment Committee, etc. would be met out of the FFS to the extent of
0.50% of the commitments made to AIFs and outstanding. This will be debited
to the fund at the beginning of each half year; i.e. April 1 and October 1.

Govt.,NDB ink $350 mn. loan pact

India has signed its first loan agreement with the New Development Bank (NDB)
for $350 million to be used in the development and upgradation of district roads
in Madhya Pradesh.
 The objective of the project is the upgradation of major district roads in
the state of Madhya Pradesh to improve connectivity of the interior areas of
the state with the national and state highway networks.
 The project would include upgradation, rehabilitation or reconstruction of
approximately 1,500 km of district roads to intermediate lane, all-weather
standards, with road safety features and improved road asset maintenance and
management.

Background:
The project is to be implemented over five years with the Government of Madhya
Pradesh and the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation acting as the
implementing agencies.
 
About NDB:
It is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa). It is seen as an alternative to the existing
US-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
 The New Development Bank was agreed to by BRICS leaders at the 5th
BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa in 2013.
 The bank is set up to foster greater financial and development
cooperation among the five emerging markets.
 The bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, China.
 Voting: Unlike the World Bank, which assigns votes based on capital share,
in the New Development Bank each participant country will be assigned one
vote, and none of the countries will have veto power.
 

What it does?
The New Development Bank will mobilise resources for infrastructure and
sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies
and developing countries, to supplement existing efforts of multilateral and
regional financial institutions for global growth and development.