Officials of the ministries of urban development and finance will meet over the week

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to discuss the future course of action on recommendations put forward by the high-powered expert committee on making Mumbai an international financial centre (IFC). The report chaired by economist Percy S Mistry was submitted in February 2007 to then finance minister, P Chidambaram.

“The exact date of the meeting has not been fixed but it would be held sometime over this week,” a senior official in the ministry of urban development told Financial Chronicle. The official added that it is expected to discuss ways and means to fast track various recommendations of the report to make Mumbai an IFC.

While the ministry of urban development would play a key role upgrading infrastructure facilities in Mumbai, the ministry of finance would work towards improving the finance services provided by the island city. The report had recommended liberalisation of the financial services and drastic improvements in the exiting infrastructure of Mumbai.

The report says that since most financial services are trade able across the borders, the buyers and sellers around the world have a choice of procuring international financial service from competing IFCs. Raising of debt by a foreign company may be an instance of international financial service.

“Creating an IFC in India requires that Mumbai must be viewed as competitive ….. in the eyes of global bond investors, when compared with alternatives like Singapore or London,” says the report.

London, New York and Singapore are the only global financial centers in the world at present. The report adds that Shanghai and Dubai are some of the emerging IFCs which are aspiring to play a global role in the years to come.

Interestingly, the report also notes that, “there is no city in the world that can become an IFC on the scale of London or New York, within a 20-year horizon, in the way that Mumbai can.”