As governments across the world restricted the movements of their citizens during Covid lockdowns from 2020, people spent more time online. We bought more online and socialised more online, and this brought us closer to the people who want to scam us. At the same time, realistic video impersonations, voices, websites, and texts became more commonplace, and scammers increased their use of social media including WhatsApp.

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Projects Development Company of Rajasthan Limited (PDCOR) to strengthen advisory services for state and city-level infrastructure projects.The agreement will also allow both institutions to jointly explore financing and transaction advisory opportunities, including transaction structuring, commercial and technical due diligence, and support for financial closure of projects undertaken by state governments and urban local bodies across India, according to PTI.“This collaboration seeks to enhance access to long-term institutional finance for State Governments and Urban Local Bodies, while strengthening the infrastructure advisory and financing ecosystem,” Rajkiran Rai G., Managing Director of NaBFID, said.He added that the partnership would help both institutions jointly pursue project advisory opportunities, develop replicable financing frameworks, accelerate financial closures and mobilise capital across the infrastructure value chain.Monika Kalia, DMD-CFO, NaBFID, said the tie-up would leverage the strengths of both organisations to provide much-needed advisory support to states and urban local bodies for impactful urban infrastructure projects.Dileep Chingapurath, Chief Executive Officer, PDCOR, said the agreement would address the long-felt need for end-to-end professional support to structure and mobilise sustainable financing solutions, particularly for state governments and their agencies.“Through this collaboration, both institutions aim to enhance the quality of project preparation, mobilise institutional capital more effectively and accelerate the implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects across states and municipalities,” he said.NaBFID is a Development Financial Institution focused on long-term infrastructure financing, while PDCOR is an undertaking of the Government of Rajasthan.