Arun Jaitley to inaugurate India Investment Summit on Feb 4

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the two-day India Investment Summit on February 4, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. The summit will be organised by the finance ministry and is aimed at attracting long-term foreign investors to the infrastructure sector.

During the summit, Jaitley will also unveil the logo of the Rs 40,000-crore National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF), the statement said.

Several foreign pension and sovereign wealth funds are expected to participate in the summit which will be held here on February 4-5. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority managing director H H Sheikh Hamid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan would deliver a special address during the inaugural session, the statement added.

The summit would have multiple sessions including one titled 'Current Status, Outlook and Investment Opportunities in Developing Urban Infrastructure'.

Other sessions would focus on outlook and investment opportunities in power and renewable energy sector and another on road transport, highways and ports. Also, one would be on investment opportunities in the railways sector.

Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, railways minister Suresh Prabhu, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, Reserve Bank of India deputy governor H R Khan, SBI (State Bank of India) chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and top bureaucrats from finance and infrastructure ministries would attend the summit.

There will also be state sessions where Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Gujarat, will showcase investment opportunities available in their places.

The finance ministry is seeking participation from SWFs for the Rs 40,000-crore NIIF, which will act as a nodal agency for funding long-term projects, including stalled ones. The ministry is in the process of finalising the first set of foreign investors in NIIF.

Additionally, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das tweeted on Tuesday: "NIIF signs MoU with Rusnano of Russia for setting up India-Russia High Technology Fund. NIIF fast taking shape."

Since coming to power in May 2014, the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government has relaxed Foreign Direct Investment norms in over a dozen sectors, including defence, banking, railways, construction, and medical devices. Jaitley has on several occasions said the country needs to attract foreign investment to supplement domestic efforts to accelerate growth.

The summit would showcase and discuss the huge long-term infrastructure investment opportunities in India. Also a booklet containing the list of possible infrastructure projects for funding will also be released during the summit.