IRFC is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) wholly-owned finance by the Government of India acting through the Ministry of Railways. The company is registered with the Reserve Bank of India as a systematically important NBFC and is classified under the category of an “Infrastructure Finance Company”.

IRFC is the dedicated market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways. Its primary business is financing the acquisition of rolling stock assets, which includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, coaches, wagons, trucks, flats, electric multiple units, containers, cranes, trollies of all kinds and other items of rolling stock, leasing of railway infrastructure assets and national projects of the Government of India and lending to other entities under the Ministry of Railways.
The actual capital expenditure of the Indian Railways was INR133,400 crore in FY2019 and IRFC financed INR52,535 crore accounting for 39.38% of the actual capital expenditure. In FY2019, IRFC was responsible for financing 82% of the Indian Railway’s total rolling stock through a financial leasing model with leasing period typically spanning 30 years.