NIIF: How a tortoise among hares made due diligence process NPA-free

Only NIIF has so far stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution, using sovereign support

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Two huge government entities with large reserves of long-term funds at their disposal, LIC and EPFO, are getting interested in financing infra investment through the markets

Subhomoy Bhattacharjee New Delhi

6 min read Last Updated : Dec 20 2022 | 10:06 PM IST

Started in 2015, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIF) was India’s first stab in creating a sovereign fund, so commonplace among the commodity-rich nations of Asia. With the Budget for FY24 expected to push the envelope on building infrastructure to keep the economic growth momentum going, NIIF’s track record so far becomes extremely relevant.

NIIF has assets under management of $4.3 billion, a modest sum by most yardsticks. Its new rival, the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) launched by Parliament in March this year, will have an authorised share capital of $12.5 billion. But NIIF has an important lesson to offer to NBFID. It has no bad loans (non-performing assets or NPAs) in its bag,