India plans wealth fund for energy assets abroad

India plans to set up a multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth fund to invest in energy assets overseas.

"The plans are at an initial stage. A decision on this would be taken after the Budget. The fund would invest in overseas energy assets like Temasek of Singapore does," Planning Commission Member Surya Sethi said in New Delhi.

Asked about the corpus of the fund, he said it has to be in billions of dollars.

As about the need to set up such a fund, a top plan panel official said the proposed fund would be one of the way to earn higher returns as compared to those investing in domestic projects.

"We have large (forex) reserves... which have associated costs. Up to a certain level, costs are justified in minimising the risk of fluctuations and any kind of shocks," he said.

Beyond a point, costs cannot be justified and "therefore you need to find other ways to earn revenue", the official said.