Aseem Infra to raise ₹2,500 crore in FY26, reduce bank funding share

NIIF-backed Aseem Infrastructure Finance plans to raise ₹2,500 crore via market and external borrowings in FY26, focusing on green finance and loan book expansion

Aseem Infrastructure Finance Ltd (AIFL), a unit of government-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), is planning to raise about ₹2,500 crore from the debt market, including external commercial borrowings, in FY26. It will incrementally increase market borrowings and reduce the share of bank funding from 75 per cent to 60 per cent.

 

Virender Pankaj, chief executive officer, AIFL told Business Standard the institution would like to increase share of market borrowings from currently about 25 per cent to 40 per cent. It would include domestic as well as international markets covering ECBs, pension and insurance funds.

 

AIFL would also do business (borrowings) with multilateral agencies like the World Bank. It was a bit expensive, but now with currency stabilising and interest rate trajectory down, it will become more economical, he added. This week it raised $80 million as a green loan through external borrowings from DBS Bank.

 

As on March 31, 2025, AIFL had total borrowings of ₹13,272 crore. It comprised a mix of term loans (80.2 per cent), non-convertible debentures (10.4 per cent), and commercial paper (9.4 per cent). Its gearing stood at 4.1 times as of March 2025 as against 3.9 times in March 2024. Rating agency Icra in its review (May 2025) said it expected AIFL to operate at a managed gearing of less than five times on a steady-state basis.

 

Referring to credit growth, he said it expects the loan book to grow by about ₹3,000 crore in FY26. The institution will give emphasis on enhancing the share of green finance and increase its share from current 50 per cent to 60 per cent this year. 

 

Its loan book stood at ₹15,156 crore as on March 31, 2025 and is expected to expand at compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 15-20 per cent over the medium term, according to Icra.

 

As for supporting loan book expansion, AFIL may go in for another round of capital infusion. The chief executive said, “for growth, we will need it. So yes, in the next two years, we will look to raise capital.”

 

It would look at tapping institutional money like private equity and multilateral agencies.

 

It last raised ₹317 crore in equity in March 2022 from SMBC. NIIF through Strategic Opportunities Fund held 59 per cent stake and the Government of India (GoI) held 31.0 per stake, followed by 10 per cent held by Japanese financial sector firm SMBC. Its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 17.7 per cent in March 2025.

 

AIFL raised ₹1,287 crore through two rounds of capital infusions by NIIF in January 2020 and May 2020, followed by ₹947 crore from NIIF (₹132 crore) and the GoI (₹815 crore) in March 2021 and ₹317 crore from SMBC in March 2022. Its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 17.7 per cent in March 2025.