MUMBAI: India’s US$4.9bil quasi-sovereign wealth fund is seeking to double its assets under management to US$10bil within the next 30 months, fuelled by surging demand for urban infrastructure in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), backed by the Indian government alongside global investors such as Temasek Holdings Pte, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and AustralianSuper Pty, is capitalising on a big funding gap in the sector, according to Vinod Giri, managing partner for its infrastructure fund.
“We are seeing a significant amount of investment requirements – almost double of what we have been seeing over the last five to seven years, across subsectors,” said Giri, who heads NIIF’s flagship infrastructure fund labelled the Master Fund.
The move comes as the likes of KKR & Co, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd and GIC Pte are pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the country’s roads, renewable energy projects, telecom towers, warehouses and data centres.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced pressure to upgrade India’s inadequate infrastructure and match the country’s aesthetics to its ambitions – or in his words, create “several Singapores” in the nation. Yet long delays, bad contracts and high costs remained big challenges.
Created with much fanfare in 2015 under Modi’s administration, NIIF marked the country’s first big attempt to develop a capital-raising structure on home soil even as many sovereign entities make direct investments in India. The fund also counted local investors among its backers.
NIIF, which currently has assets across its four strategies of infrastructure, climate, private markets and growth equity – is raising US$4.5bil across successor funds for infrastructure and private markets, Giri said, adding that the firm is seeking to close it in three years. — Bloomberg
