With a whopping $475 billion required over the next five years for infrastructure development in the country, the Centre is toying with the idea of using a part of its foreign exchange (forex) reserves to fund projects, finance minister P Chidambaram said here today. ICICI Bank today said its profit after tax for the first quarter of the current financial year has increased by 25 per cent to touch Rs 775 crore and the total income stood at Rs 9,281. The government is in discussion with the Reserve Bank of India to use some portion of the foreign exchange reserves, estimated at around $220 billion, for infrastructure, Chidambaram stated at a conference of chief secretaries on public-private partnership (PPP). The finance minister also disclosed plans for the proposed Rs 100-crore India Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IIPDF) aimed at helping the states in preparatory work of projects with PPP. Fee income shot up by 35 per cent to Rs 1,428 crore, while net interest income rose by 16 per cent to Rs 1,714 crore from Rs 1,475 crore. According to many senior pilots and DGCA officials, majority of pilots returning from America lack in general knowledge and technical flying knowhow because they have managed licences in 5-6 months instead of undergoing the minimum stipulated training of 18 months. read more
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