View: Is Development Finance Institution new wine from an old bottle?
The idea of a development finance institution can be dismissed by some as old wine in a new bottle. But the nation could well savour it if the brew is different.
Synopsis
For any development finance institution to be viable, two things have to be in place funds that would be available for 10-15 years, and projects that earn income for the investing institution. The framework, as announced by Sitharaman on Tuesday, is sketchy for now.
India’s quest for funds to build infrastructure is never ending. Over the decades, it has taken many forms, but almost every one of them ended up in failure. With Nirmala Sitharaman announcing on Tuesday that the Union Cabinet has cleared a Bill to set up a GoI-owned development finance institution (DFI), here comes another go at it.
Mutual funds have been losing investors. Between February and May 2020, active-fund inflows (monthly data) were down 34% while ETFs and index funds were down by 93% as institutional investors, the biggest ETF holders, moved out of the market. It will be some time till they come back as they are happy making money on their own.
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SBI, HDFC, PNB, ICICI, Axis Bank customers should be beware of this banking fraud!
State Bank of India, ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB) customers have been warned about a serious security flaw. According to a recent report, cybercriminals are trying to lure Indian users to disclose important personal information using the mobile apps of the aforementioned banks. The report suggests that suspicious messages prompted users to submit an application for disbursement of the income tax refund.Â
The cybercriminals are attaching a link with these messages that looks like an income tax e-filing web page. While users believe that this could benefit them, the hackers take advantage here to extract information from the users. The banking apps that have been targeted include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB).Â
Analysts said the last offer price of Rs160 apiece was unattractive. However, the stock rallied to Rs226.5 as of Tuesday and the current offer price is around 4% higher than the market price.