NIIF raises Rs 19,000 cr as first close in second fund
The second fund of NIIF was anchored by the Union government with participation from overseas sovereign funds and Indian financial institutions.
The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIF), India's sovereign-anchored alternative asset manager has raised Rs 19,000 crore as the first close for its Rs 30,000 crore NIIF Infrastructure Fund II.
The first close is anchored by the government of India and also saw participation from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance companies and leading Indian financial institutions. The global institutional investors included - AustralianSuper; CPP Investments; a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA); Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan; and Temasek; alongside leading Indian institutions including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Life Insurance and HDFC Life Insurance.
A statement noted that this fund raise reflects the strong institutional investor confidence in India’s long-term infrastructure opportunity and NIIF’s investment strategy.
NIIF manages over $7 billion in equity capital commitments across four strategies - Infrastructure, private markets, growth equity and climate investments.
Alongside the Fund, NIIF expects to mobilise approximately Rs 9,000 crore in co-investment capital, enabling investors to participate at scale in select transactions.
“Infrastructure Fund II reflects the continued confidence of our partners in India’s infrastructure opportunity and in NIIF’s ability to deploy long-term capital with discipline, sector expertise and strong governance. India’s infrastructure build-out is creating opportunities at scale, and NIIF is well positioned to connect global and domestic institutional capital with high-quality businesses,” said Sanjiv Aggarwal, Managing Director & CEO, NIIF.
Infrastructure Fund II will continue to invest across core infrastructure sectors including energy, transport and digital infrastructure, while expanding into emerging themes such as urban infrastructure and electric mobility.
The first infrastructure fund of NIIF raised Rs 16,000 crore and has invested across renewables, transmission, distribution, battery storage, roads, ports and logistics, airports, data centres and smart metering.
The statement said NIIF’s infrastructure investment strategy combines local origination, sector expertise, active governance, co-investment access and long-term asset management through a single institutional relationship.
“With a strong pipeline already in place, we see significant opportunities to deploy capital where NIIF can bring sector expertise, operating capability and execution at scale,” said Vinod Giri, Managing Partner, Infrastructure, NIIF.