NEW DELHI: The national capital is engaged in a tight battle with Johannesburg and Shanghai to emerge as the headquarters of the proposed BRICS Bank with a decision on the multilateral body expected next week when leaders from the five countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meet in Brazil.

Leaders have to agree on several issues, including the equity structure and the focus of the development institution that has been in the works for four years. After much debate the issue of equity contribution has been sorted out with BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – chipping in with equal contribution of $10 billion each, with the authorized capital to be pegged at $100 billion. Earlier, South Africa was reluctant to be an equal partner and China was willing to help it out but that would have given Beijing additional say in the bank.The other decision is related to the headquarters, where Moscow had also shown interest, but now the race has narrowed down to three capitals, a senior finance ministry official told TOI. Although Delhi is vying for the slot, Johannesburg’s chances appear the brightest given that there are concerns over language barrier and freedom of expression in Shanghai. Johannesburg comes with the added advantage of being “centrally located”.Apart from the BRICS Bank, the leaders will discuss a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) that will provide a buffer to the five countries in times of a balance of payments problem. It will have an initial subscribed capital of US$ 100 billion, of which India, Brazil and Russia will chip in with $ 18 billion each. China is expected to contribute $41 billion, with the remaining $5 billion coming from South Africa.Experts said focusing too much on locating the headquarters of the BRICS Bank in Delhi may not be a sensible idea for the government. “What you are going to get is 200-300 jobs for bureaucrats. Instead, India should focus on getting the presidency in the initial years so that it can guide the future of the institution,” said a source who has worked on formulating India’s strategy.Another expert said China, South Africa and even Brazil would be more interested in seeing that the BRICS Bank, whose name is yet to be formalized, focused on lending more to Africa, while it made sense for India to get the institution to work in its neighbourhood.In any case, China is keen on having the maximum say in the proposed development institution, modeled on the lines of the Asian Development Bank.