Jaitley seeks funding for NIIF from US, UK

Jaitley pointed out that many Indian states were growing at 10-11 per cent and offered opportunity for US investment

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday met US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and British Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, and sought further investment from the US and UK in the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

Prtizker and Fox had called on Jaitley in separate meetings in the finance ministry.

SEEKING INVESTMENTS

• FM Arun Jaitley on Monday met US Secretary of Commerce and British Secretary of State for International Trade
• Appreciating the passage of the goods and services tax (GST) Bill by Parliament, Penny Pritzker said it would boost economic activities in India
• The govt had set up the Rs 40,000-crore NIIF in 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable projects

During the meeting, Pritzker said the US wants to institutionalise the trade relations between the two countries. According to her, there is “a great potential to increase the bilateral trade among the two nations”.

Jaitley, on his part, pointed out that many Indian states were growing at 10-11 per cent and offered opportunity for US investment.

“Both the leaders discussed issues relating to bilateral trade and measures to increase the trade,” said a finance ministry statement.

Appreciating the passage of the goods and services tax (GST) Bill by Parliament, Pritzker said it would boost economic activities in India. “The trade dialogue by state chief ministers with different US authorities can be given a structured shape to give an impetus to the bilateral trade,” she added.

Jaitley expressed India’s interest in increasing the bilateral trade and said most concerns between the two countries were either already resolved or narrowed down to a large extent.  Jaitley also spoke of NIIF in which various US-based insurance, pension and endowment funds can invest, especially in the infrastructure sector which has great potential in India.

The government had set up the Rs 40,000-crore NIIF in December 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable projects. It was envisioned as a mother fund with several sectoral feeder funds. The government is to contribute Rs 20,000 crore to the fund and Rs 20,000 crore is expected to be raised through sovereign wealth funds.

Pritzker is on a three-day visit to India to preside over the Indo-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

In his meeting with Fox, Jaitley said the central government accords high priority to investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and service sectors. He said the officials from both India and the UK were exploring the option to create an Indo-UK sub-fund under the NIIF umbrella.  “We look forward to the implementation of this task expeditiously and positively in the near future,” he added. The finance minister also raised the implications of Brexit - Britain's vote to exit from the European Union (EU) - on Indian businesses and working professionals in the UK. The UK is among India’s major trading partners and despite the global economic slowdown and the euro zone crisis, India-UK bilateral trade has been resilient, Jaitley noted.

He also mentioned a new free trade agreement with the UK, which would be linked to the terms and conditions of the latter’s withdrawal arrangement from the EU.

Fox, who is on a three-day visit to India, announced his participation and the UK’s commitment to the Joint Economic and Trade Committee to be held on November 7 alongside the India-UK Tech Summit.