The 5th meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) guided to undertake advisory activities pro-actively to support central and state governments to create a pipeline of investible PPP projects. Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting.
It noted that NIIF has developed into an internationally credible and commercially viable investment platform, backed by several highly respected global and domestic investors who have invested alongside the Government of India in NIIF Funds.
NIIF’s first bilateral fund – an “India Japan Fund” with contribution from GoI has been proposed through an MoU between National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL) and Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC). The MoU was signed recently on 9th November, 2022. This key update regarding bilateral engagements of NIIF was endorsed by the GC.
IT appreciated that the two infrastructure Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), where NIIF has majority stakes, have increased their combined loan book from Rs. 4,200 crore to Rs. 26,000 crore in 3 years without experiencing any non-performing loans (NPLs) till date.
The Finance Minister asked the NIIFL team to build on the work done so far and leverage India’s attractive investment fundamentals to expand its operations. Smt. Sitharaman encouraged the team to continue discussions with investors from countries that are keen to invest in India.
She exhorted the NIIFL team also to explore opportunities under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, PM GatiShakti and National Infrastructure Corridor, which include a big pool of investible greenfield and brownfield investment projects, and to try and crowd in commercial capital into those opportunities.
The GC was apprised of the current status of the 3 funds that are currently managed by NIIFL – the Master Fund, the Fund of Funds (FoF), and the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SoF).
