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India Must Double Annual Infrastructure Investment to ₹40 Lakh Crore, Urges NaBFID MD

Speaking at FIBAC 2026, NaBFID Managing Director Rajkiran Rai G outlined India's long-term infrastructure financing imperative.

FINSAMUDRA DESK · 17 Aug 2026, 12:44 pm IST · 1 MIN

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From ₹20L Cr to ₹40L Cr NaBFID plans to transform infrastructure debt markets.

Speaking at the FIBAC 2026 conference in Mumbai, Rajkiran Rai G, Managing Director of the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), declared that India must double its annual infrastructure investment from the current ~₹20 lakh crore to ₹40 lakh crore per year.

The massive scale-up is required to sustain 7%+ economic growth and support expanding industrial corridors, addressing a cumulative 20-year infrastructure demand estimated at ₹800 lakh crore.

Rai emphasized that relying strictly on government budgetary allocations and commercial bank balance sheets is insufficient for long-duration assets.

The transition requires three structural debt market reforms:

Unlocking Domestic Savings: Channeling India’s growing ₹125 lakh crore pool of domestic savings (specifically pension and insurance funds) into long-duration, high-grade infrastructure project bonds.
Adopting "Originate and Distribute": Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) must shift toward originating long-term project credit and syndicating the exposure to institutional bond investors, preventing illiquid asset-liability mismatches on commercial bank balance sheets.
Expanding Offshore Capital: To expand its balance-sheet capacity, NaBFID plans to raise 3 billion to 4 billion via External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs), including a 500 million to 1 billion offshore bond issuance by late September 2026.

Sources

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India Must Double Annual Infrastructure Investment to ₹40 Lakh Crore, Urges NaBFID MD

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