It may be recalled that the DFIs were set up in the country in the post-independence era for providing long-term finance to the industrial projects to facilitate industrial development, in the absence of alternative sources of long-term funds.
Hence, to enable the DFIs to play this role, they were also provided access to certain concessional sources of funds by way of allocation of SLR Bonds and lending from the Long Term Operation Funds of the RBI.