The Indian government has pledged to pump US$2.7bn into a new development finance institution (DFI) as part of plans to galvanise infrastructure spending and help the country bounce back from the deleterious effects of Covid-19. The announcement was made in the country’s annual budget earlier this month, with India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman stating that she would introduce a bill for setting up the new DFI with a starting capital of roughly Rs200bn. The ambition is to have a lending portfolio of at least Rs5tn (approximately US$69bn) in three years’ time, with the DFI also expected to play a role in funding the government’s National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP).