ADB announces USD 100 million funding for the Indian infrastructure sector

Multilateral institution Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday announced a 100 million US Dollars (USD) funding for the Indian infrastructure sector through the government-promoted National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

The Manila-based body will be investing in NIIF, a tranche of funds, which will ensure that the actual money invested will be a few times more than the 100 million dollars.

The investment announcement was made at a time when the slowing Indian economy is feared to be taking a major hit due to the novel coronavirus, CoviD-19, pandemic.

NIIF's Chief Executive Sujoy Bose said that the ADB's commitment to NIIF fund during these extraordinary and challenging times is highly meaningful. Mr Bose said, ADB has been funding Indian private equity funds for over two decades now and added the latest move will help NIIF commit money to private equity fund managers who may be struggling to raise money from overseas sources.

He added that the committee should be seen as reflective of ADB''s confidence in the continued growth and potential of the Indian economy, its skilled private equity fund managers and the large pool of determined entrepreneurs who seek capital to grow and strengthen their companies.

"ADB's investment in NIIF will help catalyse institutional capital into domestic private equity funds in India, thereby contributing to greater availability of long-term growth financing for private sector companies and leading to the creation of quality jobs, social infrastructure development, and economic growth," its Vice President Diwakar Gupta said.

The total size of NIIF's fund of funds has now grown to $700 million, with ADB''s commitment, an official statement said, adding that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has also committed money to the corpus. The statement said, it has made commitments to three funds aggregating to over 2,600 crore rupees or 350 million dollars.

These three funds are engaged in investments in diverse areas including green energy and climate; middle-income and affordable housing, and entrepreneur-driven mid-market growth companies operating across diversified sectors, it said.

The NIIF said its ability to "crowd-in" investments has also been established as these three funds have raised $1.1 billion from other sources.