NaBFID sanctions Rs 3,000 crore loans to four data centres

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) has sanctioned loans of more than Rs 3,000 crore each to at least four data centres in India, the state-run infrastructure financier's managing director Rajkiran Rai G. said in an interview. The loans include moratoriums of up to five years followed by repayment over 10 years, designed to match the sector's high upfront capital needs for land, power and cooling systems before revenue generation.

NaBFID estimates India's data centres will need about Rs 1 lakh crore in funding through March 2031, Rai said. The lender plans to raise around Rs 1 trillion this financial year, with roughly 40% from overseas sources by December. It has already secured nearly $1 billion through foreign currency loans under an RBI concessional window and has mandated banks to arrange a 10-year dollar bond of similar size by late September. Global investors including EQT AB, Blackstone and Alphabet Inc., alongside the Adani Group, are also scaling up data centre infrastructure in India.

The financing push comes as India's infrastructure investment cycle expands from traditional roads and power into digital economy projects to support AI and cloud computing. Rai noted strong interest from hyperscalers and cloud service providers.