印度应设立主权基金吗?

Once again New Delhi is toying with the idea of setting up a sovereign wealth fund. The temptation is obvious. India is the only Bric country without such a fund, de rigueur among up and coming emerging economies. China's SAFE Investment Company and China Investment Corporation are each ranked among the top five in the world by assets under management, with $636bn between them. Russia's National Welfare Fund weighs in with $168bn under management. The Brazilians, too, have joined the party, establishing the Sovereign Fund of Brazil in 2009 with the aim of defending the country from future financial crises and assisting Brazilian companies to increase trade and expand abroad.

But the ultra-conservative Reserve Bank of India has long resisted pressure to sweat the country's $278bn of foreign exchange reserves. The central bank's cushion is in excess of the amount needed to cover both six months of imports and all short-term foreign currency external debt. But memories of the 1990s balance of payments crisis are elephantine. Moreover, whereas most governments that have set up such funds have enjoyed commodity export windfalls and sustained consistent current account and fiscal surpluses, India is different. Not only is it a large oil importer, but it also has sizeable current account and fiscal deficits. Foreign exchange reserve accretion is principally the result of capital inflows.

Still, pressure to manage reserves more aggressively is persistent. The latest lobbying push comes from the oil ministry, via part-privatised Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Along with Indian Oil Company, ONGC has been New Delhi's principal bidding vehicle in auctions of overseas energy assets. But the state-controlled Indian companies have struggled to compete against Chinese bidders, constrained by the need to offer private shareholders a decent return on investment. Making available a slush fund formed from the country's foreign exchange reserves might at least ease the pain when they overpay. But it's hardly likely to be an optimal use of the nation's reserves.