NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet has cleared fresh investment commitment of Rs 30,000 crore towards new funds being set up by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) as it seeks to leverage the additional resources to raise money from other investors. NIIF intends to set up a second infrastructure focused fund and will also support new fund strategies and successor bilateral and strategic funds, an official statement said. “Recognizing the role that NIIF has played over the years in bringing additional private capital to India and contributing to India’s growth journey, this additional commitment of govt of India is expected to spur investments across sectors including transportation, energy, digital infrastructure, urban infrastructure, emobility and other nationally important projects,” it added. India’s sovereign-anchored fund, where govt is a 49% shareholder, currently manages capital commitments of around Rs 40,000 crore across its funds and investment strategies. It has returned close to Rs. 12,000 crore to investors through large portfolio exits. Of its four operational investment strategies — infrastructure, private markets, growth equity, and climate investments in the India-Japan business corridor — NIIF’s first infrastructure fund, with a corpus of Rs 16,000 crore, is India’s largest domestic infrastructure fund and has created platforms across transportation and digital infrastructure. Its Private Markets Fund has invested in multiple daughter AIFs (Alternate Investment Funds) managed by home-grown managers, which in turn have invested in areas such as climate, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, and venture capital (VC)/technologies. NIIF’s Strategic Opportunities Fund has focused on sectors such as financial services and manufacturing.
