World Bank's IFC targets $10 bln in annual investments in India by 2030

MUMBAI: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to scale up its annual investments in India to $10 billion by 2030, eyeing bets in sectors such as renewable energy, urban ​infrastructure and financial services, a senior executive said.

Annual investments in India by IFC, the ‌private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, have risen to about $5.4 billion in 2024/2025 from about $1.3 billion in financial year 2021/2022, Imad Fakhoury, its South Asia regional director, told Reuters.

"We very much remain committed to our ​path in India in spite of all the changes that might be happening, the ​uncertainties that might take place," Fakhoury said in an interview on Thursday.

"We're ⁠very focused on staying the course because India is also staying the course."

India is IFC's largest ​investment destination globally, with a portfolio of about $10.3 billion as of the financial year ended June ​2025 across equity and debt investments.

In recent years, IFC has backed companies in India across sectors from banking and housing finance to manufacturing and those linked to climate.

These include investments in lenders such as Manappuram Finance, ​Federal Bank and PNB Housing Finance in the financial services sector as well TVS Emerald in ​real estate, and agribusiness platforms such as Leap Agri Silos.

Equity investments make up more than a third of ‌IFC’s ⁠India portfolio, Fakhoury said.

In Talks With States For Municipal Financing

The world's largest development finance institute is also in talks with Indian states and urban local bodies to invest in municipal bonds, Fakhoury said.

Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by local governments or municipalities to raise funds for public ​infrastructure projects such as ​roads and water supply.

"We've ⁠signed multiple mandates in multiple states," Fakhoury said, adding that IFC could act as an anchor investor to mobilise private funding, with an eye ​to creating pooled bonds for cities that may be more or ​less creditworthy.

Such a ⁠pooled bond structure would allow cities to jointly raise funds and attract private investors.

In September 2025, the DFI committed financing of $60 million for water and wastewater projects in the southern port city of ⁠Visakhapatnam, ​in its first such direct lending to an Indian city.

"This ​is a replicable model that is going to move in the direction of expanding municipal commercial bonds in India, which ​are very much underdeveloped as a market," Fakhoury added.