Talking Luxembourg in India

2nd November 2016

The Luxembourg Protocol had a high profile at a joint Indian/US government workshop on railways which took place in October in New Delhi. Each of Professor Anna Veneziano, Deputy Secretary General of Unidroit, Elizabeth Hirst, Registrar Designate of the Luxembourg Registry and RWG chairman, Howard Rosen gave detailed presentations on various aspects of the Protocol to senior officials from the Indian Railways and the Indian Railway Ministry. RWG members Summeet Banga, from GE Transportation India and Pawan Kumar Nyayapati, from PriceWaterhouseCoopers India, also participated as speakers. Delegates heard that, with the opening up of two key Dedicated Freight Corridors in the near future and the constant challenge for the Indian Rail Finance Corporation to finance all of the needed future investment in rolling stock, the private sector offered an essential alternative to state finance. As Saurabh Sood, President of GATX India explained to the workshop, operating leasing also creates ways to share funding, expertise and risk between the private and the public sector. Rosen also looked at the way that private finance, and the Luxembourg Protocol, could assist the Indian approach to Smart Cities and urban transportation.