wish to sound a note of caution here due to couple of reasons. first and foremost, as finance professionals, we must realise that in efficient markets, cost of borrowing in any currency, when adjusted for exchange rate differential, should be the same. therefore, if one finds an arbitrage opportunity, it can only be for a short term. adjusted for hedge cost, the external borrowing cannot be cheaper. only way a firm can potentially benefit from borrowing in overseas markets is by gambling on the exchange rate and retaining an unhedged forex exposure. it is, therefore, important to conduct a cost - benefit analysis in running an unhedged / partially hedged exposure before accessing external finance. secondly, infrastructure in general and, urban infrastructure in particular, do not generate matching foreign exchange earnings and, hence, there is a need to exercise abundant caution while the country is experiencing high cad. acquisition of equity by banks in infrastructure projects 24. some of my fellow panellists have also made requests for allowing the lenders to take a higher share of equity in the defaulting companies. in this context, it is pertinent to highlight that the banking regulation act places a limit on maximum equity stake that a bank can hold in any company and the requirement is not without good reason. banks are supposed to do banking business and not run companies. the depositors forego the lure of higher returns in the equity markets and place their deposits in banks for safety of their capital and, therefore, it is logical that the depositors ’ funds should not get channelized into equity through indirect means. 25. let me now turn to some other aspects of infrastructure development in india and the recent initiatives taken by the government to facilitate the success of infra projects. public private partnership 26. the public - private partnership has been actively pursued in india to meet the gaps in the provision of basic infrastructure services. according to a world bank report on private participation in infrastructure ( ppi ), india has been the top recipient of ppi activity since 2006 and has implemented 43 new projects, which attracted total investment of us $ 20. 7 billion in 2011. by end december 2012, there were over 900 ppp projects in the infrastructure sector with total project cost ( tpc ) of rs. 5430. 45 bn as compared to over 600 projects with tpc of rs. 3330. 83 bn on march 31, 2010 at different stages of implementation, i. e. bidding, construction, and operational. 27.

find common approaches to such risks and share best practices. with any new financial product or service that is introduced to the marketplace, we have a responsibility to ensure that the potential risks are clearly identified and measures to mitigate those risks put in place. financial consumers should not be the ‘ laboratory mouse ’. experience has taught us that unexpected problems will still surprise us from time to time despite our best supervisory and regulatory efforts. such potential risks should not necessarily impede progress ; but we must have the foresight to ensure these risks are well managed. the technologies may be new, but most of the risks are similar. regulators and consumers must be assured that risks to stability and integrity – including from cyberattacks, money laundering and terrorism financing – can be effectively managed without impeding innovation growth. as has been well articulated, fintech has the potential to offer services across the country, to all segments of society equally, at less cost and with more convenience in making finance transactions. overall we aim to facilitate the adoption of safe, secure, consumer - centric and innovative digital payments services. indeed, the legal mandate of the central bank uae, also now specifically includes a provision on financial inclusion. in a very strong statement from the uae government, the law states, and i quote, that we shall “ establish necessary regulations and mechanisms to ensure that every natural person shall have the right to access all or part of the banking and financial services and products from licensed financial institutions suited to his / her need ”. to this end, we undertaking transformative changes to cbuae ’ s consumer protection department. the department will bring a clear focus on consumer 3 | page protection, consumer education, literacy and awareness and promote inclusion. all of these components of consumer protection should be a very important part of the dialogue at today ’ s conference. i would like to highlight that solutions for expanding access to appropriate financial services through mobile banking and other forms of branchless banking tend to enhance the convenience for customers. however, they do not necessarily target the unbanked segment of the population. we should therefore be looking to find and promote breakthrough fintech innovations that target the unbanked segments of the population, enhance the degree of financial inclusion and reduces the costs of cross - border remittances. let me conclude by welcoming you again to the conference. and i wish you all a constructive and insightful discussion over two days. thank you. 4 | page