With a view to mobilise Rs 111 lakh crore required for funding of the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline, Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda has said that the government plans to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the next three to four months. He said ‘We need a development financial institution as infra financing needs patient capital, and banks are currently not suited for lending for long term projects which do not generate any cash for years’.
He added even deepening the bond market with regard to infrastructure financing is a matter which is receiving attention of the government and there is a need to do something more in order to have a robust bond market for infrastructure financing. he said ‘To provide funding, to enhance credit rating of projects, a DFI is needed, and we are actively working on it, and soon such an institution will be in place. We are in the process of finalising details such as shareholding of the government and whether such a body will be formed through a statute’. He noted ‘The DFI will be a catalyst, and would fund projects where others are not willing to enter because of the risks involved’.
Further, Panda said the work is in progress and the DFI should become a reality soon, may be by the end of the current financial year or early next year. He said the DFI will have a key developmental role apart from the financing role. He added ‘All kinds of innovating financial mechanisms is what this new institution will be expected to do’. Talking about the financial health of banks, Panda said that 11 out of the 12 public sector banks have posted profits as on September 30, 2020. He noted that even gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) have gone down substantially and the provision coverage ratio has increased.
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