Modi budget hikes Indian aid, mum on regional bank

On Tuesday, the BRICS economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — signed off on the launch of their widely anticipated multilateral development bank, the New Development Bank, at their summit meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil. Seen as a competitor to the World Bank, the New Development Bank claims a startup capital of $50 billion, drawn equally from the BRICS economies.

In his first budget since taking office in May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes clear that he’s not about to put India’s own emerging donor ambitions on the backburner now that the New Development Bank is in place — at least on paper. Modi is believed to have coined the name of the new bank.