India to join multilateral lender EBRD

• India is now the 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), paving the way for more joint investment with Indian companies across the bank's regions of operation.
• The Indian government had applied for membership in the London-based EBRD in December 2017.
• The EBRD board of governors, which represents all the existing shareholders, voted unanimously in favour of the country's application in March 2018, with the entire membership process completed this week, the bank said in a statement.
• India takes a shareholding in the EBRD but it will not be a recipient of EBRD financing.
• The EBRD has already cooperated with Indian enterprises on joint projects worth almost one billion euros, including investments with Tata, Jindal and Mahindra and Mahindra.
• The EBRD is also working closely with leading Indian organisations, such as FICCI, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), and the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

About European Bank of Reconstruction and Development:

• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was established to help build a new, post-Cold War era in Central and Eastern Europe. It has since played a historic role and gained unique expertise in fostering change in the region – and beyond.
• The EBRD is committed to furthering progress towards ‘market-oriented economies and the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative’. This has been its guiding principle since its creation at the beginning of the 1990s and, new challenges and the welcoming of new countries to the EBRD world notwithstanding, will continue to be its mission in years to come.
• The EBRD was set up in haste to meet the challenge of an extraordinary moment in Europe’s history, the collapse of communism in its East. In fact, a mere 18 months elapsed between the first mooting of the idea of a European bank, by President François Mitterrand of France, in October 1989 and its opening for business with headquarters in London in April 1991.
• Urgency and the ability to respond to momentous events swiftly and decisively, whether it be the end of the Soviet Union, financial crises or the ‘Arab Spring,’ have been among the EBRD’s hallmarks from the start.

By: Vishal