GOI has announced that the Rs 40,000 crore National Investment and Infrastructure fund (NIIF) has been set up and its chief executive will be finalised by January. Several sovereign funds and pension funds from Russia, Singapore, UK and UAE are willing to participate in the fund and cooperate with it at various levels. While the government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF from the Budget, another Rs 20,000 crore is expected to come from private investors. Market regulator Sebi has approved the setting up of the NIIF. It has been registered with SEBI as Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) on December 28, 2015.

The Finance Ministry had constituted a search- cum-selection Committee under the Chairmanship of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das for selecting a CEO for the Investment Management Company under the NIIF. The Investment Management Company would be responsible for taking investment decision of NIIF corpus. The government’s share in the corpus shall not exceed 49 per cent.

In July, the Cabinet had approved creation of NIIF, a sort of sovereign fund, for development of infrastructure projects, including the stalled ones.

Did You Know???

• India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) has been appointed as interim investment adviser of the NIIF.
• IIFCL, a wholly-owned government company, was incorporated on January 2006 under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorised share capital of Rs 1,000 crore.
• The company was mandated to provide long-term debt to viable infrastructure projects.