Akira Amari, the Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry, said, "The JDR is a new avenue for Indian firms to raise capital from the Japanese investors. I had a meeting with the CEOs of Reliance Industries and the Tata group and I got the impression that they have strong interest in this scheme."
The Japanese minister was talking to the media on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the industry body CII for the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project, expected to be launched by January next. The corridor is being developed by the Centre as an industrial belt along with the dedicated freight corridor between New Delhi and Mumbai.
About 80-90 Special Purpose Vehicles are estimated to be set up during the first phase of the DMIC project, which may raise funds through JDRs. These SPVs will raise an estimated $90 billion.
Ajay Dua, secretary of DMIC in the ministry of commerce, said, "We came to know about JDRs during the meeting of the first task force when Orix Corporation made its presentation. Indian firms are used to raising funds through the American and global depository receipts and have not looked at this option earlier." He added that this method of fund raising could go beyond the DMIC project.
Tiazo Nishimuro, chairman of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said Japan would come out with clear guidelines by September on how Indian companies could raise funds through the JDR route. As of now, the JDR route was not available to international companies.
DMIC is a dedicated freight corridor project, which will connect Dadri port with Mumbai's J N Port, covering 16 Indian towns. The Japanese government is co-ordinating with India to develop the project on the lines of its project along the Pacific belt developed in the post-war era.
Amari stated that the Indian and Japanese firms have multiple options to raise funds for the project such as budgetary allocations by central and state governments and investments by private sector companies.