Mr P.C. Das, Chairman and Managing Director, National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC), has brought in a sharp turnaround in the fortunes of this PSU that falls under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. A gold medalist in economics at M.A. and M. Phil from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a post graduate from the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at the Georgia State University, Mr Das is a career ICAS officer who has served in financially sensitive positions such as internal financial advisor to the Indo Tibetan Border Police and the Sashastra Seema Bal, and as deputy controller of accounts with the Customs and Central Excise. He spoke to India Empire Editor Sayantan Chakravarty at his New Delhi office

We have learnt that in the last 12 – 14 months there has been a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of the NHFDC—something quite unprecedented since the organization’s inception in 1997. Please talk us through this turnaround…

You are right. When I joined on October 31, 2013, NHFDC had an authorized capital of Rs 400 crore. But until then since its inception in 1997, the organization had been able to receive only Rs 215 crore out of the authorized capital from the Government. It made me wonder why NHFDC had only managed to receive such a small amount, to me it looked a childish figure, especially given that there are 2.68 crore disabled persons in India and the scope of work in this sector is enormous. Something did not feel quite right, something was seriously missing. In fact, you’d be surprised to know that in two of those 16 years (1997–2013), NHFDC did not receive even a single rupee from the Government of India. Also, in the financial year I joined (2013–2014), NHFDC had managed to invest only Rs 20 crore in the seven months between April and October. I took up the challenge head on, and managed to disburse Rs 76 crore over the next 5 months, that is before March 31, 2014. That majorly kicked off the NHFDC turnaround story.