K V Kamath appointed as Chairman of NaBFID

The Ministry of Finance has appointed K V Kamath as the Chairman of the development finance institution (DFI) National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID).

In March, the Parliament passed the NaBFID bill for creating a DFI, which will help in funding long-term infrastructure projects in India. Initially, DFI will be owned by the government, but its stake will be reduced by 26% later. The budget has allocated Rs 20,000 crore to capitalize the DFI, expecting to create a portfolio of Rs 5 trillion in three years.

The new entity will help in providing finance options for projects in the National Infrastructure Pipeline. The government has decided to increase investment in infrastructure projects to boost the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the government plans to invest Rs 111 trillion by 2025.

Kamath was the first president of the National Development Bank-funded by five Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) members after completing his five-year tenure in 2020. He is credited to have built the multilateral lending institution from scratch.

He is also credited for catapulting ICICI Bank Limited to the level of India's second-largest lender. He headed the bank for 13 years till 2009. Kamath was also a non-executive Chairman of Infosys Limited, with India being the second-largest software services exporter. He spent eight years at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), being a part of the private sector department. He returned to India to be a managing director and chief executive of ICICI Bank Limited.

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