Government to fully own the new DFI

09 Feb 2021 Editorial Team

The government will have 100% ownership in the new development finance institution (DFI), proposed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2021, the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (MoF) has stated.

Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj told media sources that initially the DFI will be fully government-owned, and will, later on, get more stakeholders depending on its financing needs.

Debashish Panda, Financial Services Secretary, had earlier this week stated that the DFI would be named the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, or NBFID.

Make in Steel 2021

24 February

Click for event info

4th Indian Cement Review Conference 2021

17-18 March

Click for event info

Citing the long term-debt financing needs of infrastructure, the Finance Minister had said during the budget that a professionally managed development finance institution (DFI) is necessary to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing.

The Union Budget 2021-22 has provided Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise the institution. The DFI funding of infrastructure seeks to support the implementation of the burgeoned infrastructure outlay. As widely expected, a pandemic recovery plan has dominated a 37% increase in planned infrastructure spending. The plan includes a capital expenditure (capex) target of Rs 5.54 lakh crore for 2021-22, compared with a revised estimate of Rs 4.39 lakh crore for 2020-21.

Image: The Union Budget provides Rs 20,000 crore as capital for the DFI, to be named the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, or NBFID.

Also read: Infra budget sought, infra budget granted

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..