Making DFIs work Project assessment skills and tax sops needed The government’s latest Budget proposes to set up a Development Finance Institution soon to fund the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline. “Infrastructure needs long-term debt financing. A professionally managed Development Financial Institution is necessary to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing,” the Finance Minister had said in her Budget speech. Finally, wisdom has dawned on the government machinery to understand the importance of development financial institutions and how callous we were in allowing Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) to exit from the scene.