NIIF to raise Rs 8,000 cr in FY18 to fund projects worth Rs 16,000cr

Govt drastically lowered allocation for NIIF from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in RE

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) plans to raise Rs 8,000 crore from various sources to fund projects worth Rs 16,000 crore for the next financial year (FY).

The government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore budgetary support to NIIF which will be leveraged to raise Rs 8,000 crore from strategic anchor partners, namely multilateral and bilateral institutions, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and domestic public sector enterprises, according to Output Outcome Framework for Schemes 2017-18.

This will fund projects worth Rs 16,000 crore into the infrastructure sector — both greenfield and brownfield — it said.

According to the latest Budget papers, the government has drastically lowered the allocation for NIIF from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in the revised estimate (RE).

For the next FY, the government has made a provision of Rs 1,000 crore, an indication that there are expectations of low funds mobilisation under this.

In December 2015, the government had set up the Rs 40,000 crore NIIF, an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.

While the Centre will invest Rs 20,000 crore in NIIF, the remaining is to come from private domestic and foreign investors who can invest in the umbrella fund or smaller sector or project-specific funds within it.

Last year, the government announced that it is in the process of setting up two sub-funds under NIIF — one in clean energy fund which will primarily focus on renewable energy, and another with focus on highway projects.

It has been incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 2013, authorised to act as an investment manager.