Govt amends norms for financial support to PPP in infra

NEW DELHI, Mar 31: The India Government today approved amendments to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) guidelines to enhance financial support to projects in the infrastructure sector. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the change in the definition of a 'Private Sector Company' in the guidelines for financial support to Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure under the Viability Gap Funding Scheme (VGF Scheme), an official statement said. This has been done to remove any ambiguity in interpretation of the term 'Private Sector Company' and to align it with the definition of 'Government Company' in the Companies Act, 2013, it said. The definition of a 'Private Sector Company' has been amended to mean a company which is not a 'Government Company', it said. Government company is defined as "any company in which not less than 51 percent of the paid-up share capital is held by the Central Government, or by any State Government or Governments, or partly by the Central Government and partly by one or more State Governments, and includes a company which is a subsidiary company of such a Government company," it said. Approval has also been given to the Finance Minister to approve any amendment to the scheme that does not result in any material alteration to the scheme, it added. This will enable the Department to make quick changes to meet the economic challenges thrown up by the changing economic situation, it added.