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BRICS Should Set Up Credit Agency to Take on Biased Agendas of
Existing Agencies: G K Pillai
New Delhi, July 17, 2012
Like the efforts to set up a BRICS Development Bank, Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa should also establish an international
credit rating agency to offset the biased agendas of some of the
rating agencies, said the former Union Commerce and Home Secretary G
K Pillai.
Pillai, now a Distinguished Fellow and the RK Mishra Chair at
Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and a Distinguished Fellow at
CUTS International said this was necessary to control what he called
the “skewed information inflows” in the world.
Chairing a seminar on “BRICS Trade, Investment and Finance
Corporation”, organised by ORF and CUTS International, Pillai said
“the control of intelligence and information is so biased in many
ways. I really do not see why we do not get together to set up our
own rating agencies which could independently assess.” Pillai said
pointing out India’s experiences in setting up various institutions
like banks and stock exchanges.
Articulating a “Long Term Vision for BRICS” Dinesh Bhatia, Joint
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, pointed out the BRICS
pledge of fund to the EU to help come out of the eurozone crisis and
said BRICS was emerging as a factor of stability and growth. He said
in the foreseeable future, the role of BRICS countries in shaping
global economy and global governance is only going to increase.
Zhotan Khuma, Ministry of Commerce explained the Ministry’s work in
identifying areas of cooperation that would be mutually beneficial
to the BRICS economies. “SME’s are one particular area of
cooperation that we have identified to be crucial” he said.
Usha Titus, Director, Ministry of Finance, addressed technical
challenges of the proposed BRICS Development Bank. Focusing on
infrastructure, she pointed out the inability of the existing MDBs
to fully respond to the needs of emerging economies. She presented
some of the key challenges and issues to be tackled by the working
group for the Development Bank.
Bandi Ram Prasad, representing Financial Technologies Knowledge
Management Co. Ltd, highlighted individual strengths of each BRICS’
economy in driving regional growth and enhancing market integration.
Sunjoy Joshi, Director, ORF, highlighted “the significance of the
evolving BRICS partnership,” emphasising the need to deliberate on
the key building blocks of intra-BRICS trade.
Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International spoke on the
need for a “new architecture for global governance” and reiterated
the importance of BRICS in enhancing South-South cooperation.
For more information, please contact:
Kshitiz Sharma, Assistant Director, CUTS International,
ks@cuts.org
Ph: 0141-2282482/2282821
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