NaBFID to be operational in 4-5 months: Financial Services Secretary

Terming NaBFID a game changer for the infra financing in India, Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda has recently said that the new Development Finance Institution should be operational in next 4-5 months.

Parliament had earlier cleared National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Bill 2021 to support the development of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India, including development of the bonds and derivatives markets necessary for infrastructure financing.

Panda at Times Network India Economic Conclave 2021,said, “With the passage of the bill in both Houses of Parliament…it is soon going to become a law…It will be a statutory body which will be set up in a time span of 4-5 months. We should get going in the sense, we’ll have the board in position and then the CEO and the deputy MDs.” He also stated that head hunting for the right person for top-level positions would take some time.

The DFI being set up to fund the infrastructure sector will remain outside the purview of CAG, CVC and CBI, a move aimed at enabling faster decision-making.Besides, the proposed law seeks to provide 10-year tax concession so that it can provide long-term fund at affordable cost to the infrastructure sector.

“We also assign them a key developmental role apart from financing. Also want this institution to be the market maker for various purposes including nurturing and deepening the bond market. So, this new DFI is going to be an enabler, a catalyst and a facilitator. So around that we expect a lot of other private DFIs which we have provided for in the statute to also come up,” he added.