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Global sovereign, pension funds to invest in NIIF: Jaitley

The NIIF, announced in the FY16 Budget as part of govt's major infra push, will have its chief executive finalised by Jan-end

Union Minister for Finance, Arun Jaitley chairing the first meeting of the Governing Council of National Investment & Infrastructure Fund Trustee Ltd. (NIFTL), in New Delhi on Tuesday. MoS for Finance,  Jayant Sinha and other dignitaries are also

Union Minister for Finance, Arun Jaitley chairing the first meeting of the Governing Council of National Investment & Infrastructure Fund Trustee Ltd. (NIFTL), in New Delhi on Tuesday. MoS for Finance, Jayant Sinha and other dignitaries are also see

BS Reporter New Delhi
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that several sovereign funds and pension funds from Russia, Singapore, UK and UAE were willing to participate in the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

The NIIF, announced in the 2015-16 Budget as part of the government’s major infrastructure push this year, has been set up and its chief executive will be likely be finalised by January-end.

“We hope the CEO selection process is completed over the next few weeks,” Jaitley said after the first meeting of the NIIF Governing Council.

The appointment is likely to happen by the end of next month, senior government officials said. They added India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) had been appointed as the investment advisor and IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd as Advisor to NIIF Trustee Ltd initially for six months and one year, respectively.
 

Jaitley said the NIIF governing council will meet again in March to review the progress in the participation of the funds that are willing to invest.

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 Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the setting up of the NIIF. It has been registered with Sebi as Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) on Monday.

The NIIF would invest in greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects. The finance ministry had in October formed a selection panel, headed by 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 Union Cabinet had approved creation of NIIF, a sort of sovereign fund, for development of infrastructure projects, including the stalled ones.

The governing council in the Tuesday meeting also noted the possible projects that may be taken up under the NIIF. Jaitley is the chairman of the Council, and its members include DEA Secretary Das, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, among others.

The NIIF will have a dual role of equity capital infusion in projects and in getting the due-diligence done for investment in infrastructure projects and have investors available for these.

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First Published: Dec 30 2015 | 12:29 AM IST

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