BRICS bank signs pact to place headquarters in Shanghai

Shanghai: The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS countries on Saturday signed an agreement with China to place its Headquarters here, according legal status to the multi-lateral bank headed by eminent Indian banker K V Kamath.

The agreement was signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Kamath at a special ceremony, which was attended by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

The bank also signed a separate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the local Municipal government headed by Mayor Yang Xiong.

The agreements accord legal status to the NDB under the Chinese regulations to function from the country.

The documents were signed on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in this Chinese financial hub in the presence of heads of delegations of BRICS nations, ambassadors and central bank governors and the heads of other multilateral development institutions and international organisations.

Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale also attended the ceremony.

"Today's agreements related to our Headquarters in Shanghai are a landmark step in our nascent journey as a development bank. With this we are now ready for business and we look forward to building an institution of repute in the course of time," Kamath said.

The NDB established by the five BRICS members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- began functioning in Shanghai last year.

The bank commenced operations with an initial subscribed capital of USD 50 billion with total paid-in capital of USD 10 billion. The founding members of the NDB have already brought in capital of USD one billion as initial contribution.

The new bank will start issuing loans to green energy ventures and infrastructure projects from April this year.