[ KJM Varma ]
BEIJING, 24 Jun: Frictions between India and China have not affected the functioning and growth of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), where both countries are the top two investors, the bank’s Vice President of Investment Solutions Ajay Bhushan Pandey has said.
In a detailed interview with PTI Videos here, Pandey, a former finance secretary and CEO of Aadhaar, sought to dispel the impression that the AIIB was a Chinese bank and said it truly emerged as a multilateral development bank (MDB) with well-established governing structures.
According to the bank’s official data, China is the largest shareholder of the AIIB with 26.54 percent voting shares. India is the second-largest shareholder with 7.58 percent, followed by Russia with 5.9 percent and Germany with 4.1 percent.
Pandey, who took over as vice president of investment solutions of the bank in April this year, said differences and frictions between India and China have not impacted the bank’s functioning in any way.
“MDBs are supposed to be professional organisations. The countries may have political differences, but
when they sit at the table on the bank, you know, they are governed by their own economic interests,” Pandey said.
“Outside the bank and the other political space and in the media space, countries’ behaviours towards each other may be very different, but it is not reflected in the bank’s functioning,” he said.
The Beijing-headquartered AIIB, established in 2016, is holding its 10th annual meeting of the board of governors from Tuesday to Thursday here. The meeting is being attended by a host of top officials from its 100 member countries.
As the vice president of investment solutions, Pandey oversees the sectors, themes and finance solutions department (STF), the sustainability and fiduciary solutions department (SFD) and the portfolio management department (PMD).
The AIIB has 100 full members, 110 approved members from six continents representing 81 percent of the world population and 65 percent of global GDP, according to the bank’s official data.
In the last nine years, the bank has approved 310 projects amounting to about USD 60 billion in funding in 38 member countries, with India topping the list with USD 11 billion. (PTI)
