The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on August 27, 2026, to strengthen collaboration in financing infrastructure projects with significant rural impact, according to a media statement.
The partnership brings together NABARD's expertise in rural and agricultural infrastructure with NaBFID's specialised capabilities in infrastructure financing. The MoU provides a framework for joint financing, knowledge sharing and the development of innovative financing solutions, with a focus on expanding access to long-term, competitively priced finance for projects that can strengthen rural infrastructure and value chains, the statement said.
Leadership on the pact
Quoting Shaji Krishnan V, Chairman of NABARD, the statement said:
"Rural infrastructure itself has both a social and a commercial dimension. Our role has been to fund financially sustainable, market-based structures, and this partnership lets us work together on value-chain financing, on capacity building through our respective training institutions, and on both the liability and asset sides of our business. I am confident this collaboration can help bridge the rural-urban divide and advance rural prosperity, which remains an important national priority. This MoU is a good starting point, and we look forward to working together towards that larger goal."
Rajkiran Rai G, Managing Director of NaBFID, said: "NABARD brings deep, long-standing expertise in the rural sector, and rural infrastructure is emerging as a key driver of economic growth. This collaboration reflects the natural synergy between the two institutions. There is a real opportunity to design commercially viable, bankable projects in areas such as food processing, storage and cold-chain connectivity, and in doing so, contribute meaningfully to raising farmer incomes and strengthening India's rural economy."
Funding and advisory framework
Under the partnership, NABARD and NaBFID will explore funding arrangements and infrastructure advisory services across the project lifecycle. This will include project identification, appraisal and due diligence, credit structuring and pricing, as well as joint monitoring. The two institutions will also collaborate on advisory services, including project structuring, financial modelling and debt syndication, the statement said.
Joint capacity-building initiatives will draw on the respective training institutions of NABARD and NaBFID, supporting knowledge exchange and strengthening capabilities in infrastructure financing.
Coverage areas
The collaboration will cover public private partnership projects and agri value chains, as well as infrastructure with strong rural linkages. Key areas include water and sanitation, irrigation, post-harvest storage and cold-chain facilities, terminal markets, rural roads and bridges, warehousing and compressed biogas. These areas are critical to building resilient and future-ready rural infrastructure in line with the vision of 'Viksit Bharat', the statement added.
| Collaboration Area | Scope per MoU |
|---|---|
| Financing | Joint financing; long-term, competitively priced finance for rural projects |
| Advisory services | Project identification, appraisal, due diligence, structuring, financial modelling, debt syndication |
| Monitoring | Joint monitoring across the project lifecycle |
| Capacity building | Training institutions of both institutions support knowledge exchange |
Implications for finance executives
For CFOs, treasury directors and infrastructure finance professionals, the MoU signals a structured approach to making rural infrastructure debt bankable. The explicit inclusion of credit structuring and pricing, debt syndication and joint monitoring points to a framework designed to broaden the lender base and align financing terms with project cash flows, according to the statement. The emphasis on expanding access to long-term, competitively priced finance is directly relevant to the cost of capital for projects spanning cold-chain logistics, warehousing and irrigation. By pairing NABARD's rural-sector depth with NaBFID's infrastructure financing capabilities, the institutions aim to design commercially viable projects in food processing, storage and cold-chain connectivity — areas where debt syndication and structured credit can play a decisive role in project execution, the statement said.
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