The finance minister and a tale of two issues

Nobody misses an opportunity to praise the finance minister these days.

It was the turn of IDBI Bank chief RM Malla at the event to launch the first SME IPO on NSE's EMERGE platform in the capital.

Speaking at the event presided by the finance minister P Chidambaram, Malla credited the minister for bringing back the 'interest in India' in a matter of  'just 45 days'.

Chidambaram took over as the finance minister in early August.

Malla pointed out two events that marked the return of global investor interest in India.

"We had floated 250 million Singapore dollar issue last month. In normal course, we would have expected a subscription of 4-5 times.

But instead we got a subscription of 12 times," Malla said amidst loud cheers.

He pointed out a more recent instance where the company raised $500

million.

"This time we got subscription equivalent of $ 4.5 billion. That is the kind of interest in India," Malla said.

The issue was subscribed nine times, a number not heard for an Indian issue in recent times, he pointed out.

He added that while the Singapore issue was wrapped up by two senior officials, for the second issue, "we did not even have to go out."

The renewed interest in India is a combination of a globe flush with liquidity unleashed by growth obsessed central banks in Europe and USA and removal of key irritants such as GAAR by the Indian government.

With Friday's move to bring in foreign direct investment in retail and aviation, the government has addressed the concerns of 'policy paralysis', which were holding back investors.