NEW DELHI: Indian Railway Finance Corporation or IRFC, the dedicated non-banking financial company (NBFC) for the Indian Railways, is now looking to finance rolling stock procurement for the metro system, in a move aimed at diversifying from core Indian Railways financing.
“..we are on the verge of signing one agreement with one of the metro railway (project) where we are going to finance their rolling stock for the first time in the similar manner as we are doing for the Indian Railways,” said Manoj Kumar Dubey, Chairman & Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IRFC in a keynote address at ET Infra Rail Show. IRFC has traditionally financed procurement of rolling stock assets by Indian Railways.
Dubey outlined that the rail infrastructure development in the country, encompassing Indian Railways network, metro network, rapid rail system, have a financing requirement of ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh crores annually, wherein IRFC is positioning itself to address the financing requirement.
“In January this year, we changed our motto from being the financing arm of Indian Railways to financing arm of the railway ecosystem…anything having backward-forward linkages with the railways,” said Dubey.
As the budgetary allocation for the Indian Railways has gradually increased over the years, with allocation for financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) at ₹2.52 lakh crore, IRFC is now focusing on lending to other segments of the rail sector wherein it aims to achieve higher net interest margins.
As of March end, IRFC’s assets under management stood at ₹4.60 lakh crore, while net interest income in the financial year 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) was at ₹6,568.9 crore and net interest margin at 1.42 per cent.
