SME Times News Bureau | 22 Jan, 2018
The National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has made its First investment on Monday, said the
ministry of finance.
The Government of India is pleased
to take note that the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has
made its First investment today, the ministry said in a press statement.
NIIF has partnered with DP World
to create an investment platform for ports, terminals, transportation and
logistics businesses in India.
The platform will invest in
opportunities in the ports sector, and beyond sea ports into areas such as
river ports and transportation, freight corridors, port-led special economic
zones, inland container terminals, and logistics infrastructure including cold
storage.
The first close of the NIIF
Master Fund took place on October, 16, 2017 with contributions from a
subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and four Domestic
Institutional Investors (DIIs), viz., HDFC Group, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra
Life and Axis Bank.
An India-UK Green Growth
Equity Fund (GGEF) is also being set-up under the fund of funds vertical of
NIIF, and shall have anchor commitments of GBP 120 million each from Government
of India (through NIIF) and Government of UK.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash
Chandra Garg, said, "NIIF, set-up to function as a major platform in India for
attracting foreign investments, has made good progress. We are pleased to learn
of NIIF’s first investment to create an investment platform in the ports and
logistics sector. Following its First Close in October 2017 on the fund-raising
side, and now with its first investment, NIIF is making visible progress."
The NIIF is being operationalized
by establishing three Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) under the SEBI
Regulations.
The proposed corpus of NIIF is Rs. 40,000 Crores (around USD 6
Billion). GOI’s contribution to the AIFs under the NIIF scheme shall be 49% of
the total commitment. NIIF has mandate to solicit equity participation from
strategic anchor partners, like overseas
sovereign/quasi-sovereign/multilateral/bilateral investors.