The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) is planning to raise $3-4 billion through external commercial borrowings, including bonds, under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) swap facility, according to Managing Director Rajkiran Rai G. As reported by Financial Express Mumbai, the infrastructure financier has already secured $850 million and is planning a bond issuance of $500-1 billion with a proposed tenure of around 10 years. The proposed bond issue is likely to be launched by the end of the quarter, depending on investor appetite, though the exact amount has not yet been crystallised. "We are looking at USD 3 to 4 billion of ECB, both loans and bonds. We have already done USD 850 million," Rai said while speaking at the sidelines of Ficci-IBA event. The MD noted that while pricing has increased, it remains at reasonable levels for the current market conditions.
India needs to double its annual infrastructure investment to ₹40 lakh crore to achieve long-term economic growth ambitions, according to NaBFID's MD. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, the country currently invests around ₹20 lakh crore annually in infrastructure, with NaBFID estimating that infrastructure itself requires about ₹800 lakh crore investment over the next 20 years. The MD emphasised that manufacturing capex also needs substantial investments, noting that India skipped manufacturing growth to focus on services sector first, requiring both sectors to increase investments for sustainable nine per cent growth. "When we talk of capex, actually, it is more from the manufacturing and infra, both together, because manufacturing capex also has to go up," Rai explained, adding that the shift towards participation of different saving tools in infrastructure financing is gradually happening with some ecosystem and regulatory changes required.
The growing pool of domestic long-term savings could increasingly finance infrastructure and other long-duration assets, according to NaBFID's MD. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, assets under management of pension, insurance and provident fund schemes stand at ₹125 lakh crore, which is almost 50 per cent of scheduled bank deposits and are growing at 15-20 per cent, while scheduled banks struggle to grow liabilities at 9 per cent. The MD suggested that funding infrastructure through traditional lending alone would not be sufficient and financial institutions would increasingly need to originate projects and distribute exposure to other investors. "In the next phase of growth, we will see participation of different kinds of saving tools coming into this sector," Rai noted, adding that insurance, pension and provident funds will be among the biggest contributors to financing India's next phase of growth.
The NaBFID MD warned that achieving a $30 trillion economy would be very difficult without sustained investment levels. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, he emphasised that sustainable growth requires continuous investment rather than one-year spikes, noting that the shift towards participation of different saving tools in infrastructure financing is gradually happening with some ecosystem and regulatory changes required. "It is not that one year we do and all that. It has to be done continuously to sustain that growth. Otherwise, a USD 30 trillion economy will be very difficult to achieve," Rai warned. He added that the next challenge would be determining how the massive funding requirement would be met, with the shift eventually reducing dependence on bank balance sheets for funding long-term infrastructure projects.
The Reserve Bank of India has issued the Reserve Bank of India (All India Financial Institutions – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026 effective immediately, applicable to EXIM Bank, NABARD, SIDBI, NHB and NaBFID. As reported by RBI, these Directions prescribe governance and oversight for data quality, risk data aggregation, reporting, data architecture, IT infrastructure, reconciliation, automation and record maintenance. The framework requires supervisory returns to be submitted through RBI's online reporting portals and prescribes operational guidelines, user access arrangements and reporting requirements for domestic and overseas operations. The Directions specify applicable supervisory returns including ALE-FI, RCA-III-FI, ROR-FI, RAQ-FI, RLC-FI, ROC-FI, RCL-FI, CRILC, RFA, RDB, LEF-FI, CPR-FI, FSI, FMR, FUA, FMR4/RBR and VMR-I, together with their periodicity, reference dates and submission timelines. "The AIFI shall furnish true and correct information in the returns prescribed in these Directions, within the stipulated timelines. In case the AIFI is found in violation of these Directions, RBI may take necessary action including imposition of a penalty/fine under the extant provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934," the RBI stated.
