Jaitley reviews progress of NIIF, discusses infra projects

The panel headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today reviewed the progress of India's maiden sovereign wealth fund NIIF and discussed investment proposals and project pipeline in a bid to speed up development of the infrastructure sector.
The Governing Council of the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which met under the chairmanship of Jaitley, also discussed selection of the fund's CEO.
At its second meeting, the Council deliberated on the follow-up action being taken on the MoUs signed with Rusnano of Russia, ADIA of Abu Dhabi and the Qatar Investment Authority.
"The Governing Council was apprised of the interactions that have been held with a large number of long-term investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds from across the globe seeking to invest in NIIF," a Finance Ministry statement said.

They also discussed the guidelines for investment of the corpus of NIIF, including the investment policy, it added.
"NIIF starts considering specific investment proposals. Focus is on infrastructure projects. Looking at early approval... Shelf of projects being shared with investors," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said.

Set up in December 2015, NIIF will act as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.
The government is in the process of appointing a CEO for NIIF, in which it holds 49 per cent, while the rest will be held by private investors.
The Council was also apprised of the refinement in the structure of NIIF pursuant to discussions with investors.

NIIF will have various sector- or investor-specific close-ended funds which would issue various classes of units. The government, along with other investor(s), will subscribe to the units of various funds.
"The status of projects short-listed for initial investment by the NIIF and the selection process of chief executive officer were also placed before the Council," the ministry said, adding that a NIIF website was launched today.
This meeting was attended by the Economic Affairs Secretary, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Duggal and SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya and former Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai.