A committed DFI needed

India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited is poised to flower as a DFI for India's infrastructure

With public-private partnerships (PPP) in extended hibernation and private investment in infra at an all-time low, the challenge now is to get the private sector to invest upwards of Rs 7 lakh crore per annum in greenfield projects. Financing this will be challenging, given the dire straits of India’s banks, which is expected to get worse. Banks will have to hold more capital because of Basel III; struggle over the medium term with their bad debts; and suffer from asset-liability mismatches. Alternative capital market instruments like InvITs and REITS will take time to mature to make meaningful impact and, anyway,