Q. With reference to ‘National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’, which of the following statements is/are correct?

  1. It is an organ of NITI Aayog.
  2. 2. It has a corpus of Rs. 4,00,000 crore at present.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  • 1 only
  • 2 only
  • Both 1 and 2
  • Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund:
  • National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is an investor-owned fund manager, anchored by the Government of India (GoI) in collaboration with leading global and domestic institutional investors. 
  • National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) was set up in the year 2015 as India’s first-ever sovereign wealth fund and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under SEBI Regulations, 2012 as a Category II Alternate Investment Fund (AIF). It provides long-term capital for infra-related projects.
  • It is an institution for enhancing infrastructure financing by investing in greenfield (new), brownfield (existing) and stalled projects.
  • The primary goal of setting up NIIF was to optimise the economic impact largely through investing in infrastructure-related projects.
  • Some of the major objectives of NIIF are as follows:
    • To raise funds through suitable instruments which also included off-shore credit-enhanced bonds.
    • To attract the anchor investors for their participation as partners in NIIF.
    • Servicing of the investors of the fund.
    • To consider and approve the candidate companies, institutions, and projects for investments.
    • To invest in the corpus created by the Asset Management Companies (AMCs) to invest in private equity.
    • To provide advisory service and prepare a shelf of infrastructure projects.
  • Types of NIIF Funds
    • Master Fund: This fund primarily invests in infra-related projects such as roads, ports, airports, and power. Also, the master fund invests in well-established enterprises that are into a long-term agreement and are operating in a regulated environment with a good history.
    • Fund of Funds: It looks to invest in funds managed by the renowned fund managers having an excellent track record. The fund of funds invests as anchor investors, and this enables the fund managers to accumulate more funds from the institutional investors
    • Strategic Fund: This fund is registered as an Alternative Fund II under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in India. Strategic funds invest primarily in equity and equity- linked instruments.
  • The Indian government has a 49% stake in NIIF with the rest held by foreign and domestic investors.
    • With the Centre’s significant stake, NIIF is considered India’s quasi-sovereign wealth fund.
  • Across its three funds, it manages over USD 4.3 billion of capital.
    • Its registered office is in New Delhi.