oppn parties The Proposed New DFI Needs To Remain Focused To Be A Success

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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The Proposed New DFI Needs To Remain Focused To Be A Success

By Ashwini Agarwal
First publised on 2021-02-03 09:50:06

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced in the Budget 2021 that the government will set up a separate development finance institution (DFI) to push the projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). Sitharaman had announced that the DFI will have an initial capital of Rs 20000 crore and the target is for it to achieve a lending portfolio of Rs 5 lakh crore in three years time. While this is a good move that will make infrastructure investments more focused and dealt with by a single institution, the previous record of the government in implementing the move properly does not inspire much confidence.

India's experimentation with DFIs is not new. In the past, ICICI and IDBI were created but both were later converted into universal banks. As of now, the India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) exists but plays a very limited role. In fact, financial services secretary Debasish Panda has said that since IIFCL has some domain expertise and trained manpower, it can be considered for a quick start and may be subsumed in the new entity. That will also be a good move.

But the government needs to conduct the implementation part differently. All previous DFIs did not relly take off because the focus was lost. If the new DFI has to succeed, the there should be clear guidelines about its functioning. Also, the government has to be clear about how the new DFI will raise funds to finance the long gestation infra projects. A vibrant bonds market is necessary for it to access long term and low cost funds to finance such projects. If all things fall in place, such a DFI will play a huge role in the successful implementation of projects under the NIP. Hence, the government needs to learn from past mistakes and ensure that the new institution adopts best practices and is given a clear mandate. It should also be manned by professionals bankers and other trained personnel and bureaucrats must have little say in its operations. 

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