FM advises NIIF to mull opportunities under national infra pipeline, others The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman 'exhorted' the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIFL) team to explore opportunities under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, PM Gati Shakti and National Infrastructure Corridor, a statement from the Ministry of Finance said.
The three schemes -- which are various infrastructure projects launched by the government -- include a big pool of investible greenfield and brownfield investment projects and NIIF could try and crowd in commercial capital into those opportunities, the statement said.
Sitharaman on Wednesday chaired the fifth meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), in New Delhi.
NIIF 's master fund invests in infrastructure and related sectors in the country. NIIF also manages two other funds -- the Strategic Opportunities Fund and the Fund of Funds.
The minister asked the NIIF team to leverage India’s attractive investment fundamentals to expand its operations. Sitharaman encouraged the team to continue discussions with investors from countries that are keen to invest in India, the statement said.
The Governing Council 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 the government of India was proposed through an Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) between National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL) and Japan Bank for International Development (JBIC) on 9 November, 2022. This key update regarding bilateral engagements of NIIF was endorsed by the GC, the statement said.
“The GC appreciated that the two infrastructure Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), where NIIF has majority stakes, have increased their combined loan book from ₹4,200 crore to ₹26,000 crore in 3 years without experiencing any non-performing loans (NPLs) till date," the ministry said.
“The GC also guided NIIF to undertake advisory activities pro-actively to support central and state governments to create a pipeline of investible PPP projects," it added.