"Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is poised to achieve Maharatna status as the final regulatory approvals draw near."

Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is likely to become the country’s first railway public sector undertaking to be accorded Maharatna status, with a proposal for the upgrade said to be close to receiving final approvals, according to officials familiar with the matter.

IRFC, which was granted Navratna status in March last year, is expected to gain greater operational and financial autonomy once elevated to Maharatna status. The move is also likely to help the government-owned infrastructure finance company lower its borrowing costs and lending rates. A senior official said Indian Railways has already recommended the upgrade.

At present, 14 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have Maharatna status, the most recent being Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which was elevated in October 2024. Maharatna companies are permitted to make investments of up to ₹5,000 crore or 15 per cent of their net worth in a single project without prior government approval, compared with a limit of ₹1,000 crore for Navratna firms.

To qualify for Maharatna status, CPSEs must be Navratnas with an average annual turnover of more than ₹25,000 crore over the previous three years, a net worth exceeding ₹15,000 crore and net profit after tax of over ₹5,000 crore, along with significant international operations or a global presence.

In October 2025, IRFC informed stock exchanges that its net worth stood at ₹56,193.85 crore. The company said it sanctioned and executed new business agreements worth ₹45,382 crore during the first half of 2025-26 across railway-linked sectors, including power generation—such as renewable energy—energy transmission, coal mining and industrial infrastructure. The company noted that these sanctions represented a nine-fold increase over the ₹5,250 crore executed in the previous financial year.

Earlier this week, IRFC said it had received an ‘excellent’ rating from the Department of Public Enterprises for the fifth consecutive year since its listing in 2020-21. Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Dubey said the company achieved its annual sanction guidance of ₹60,000 crore for 2025-26 by the end of December.

Last month, IRFC refinanced a ₹10,000 crore foreign currency loan taken from the World Bank for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project.