CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 103 of 120

Correct — D, Global Investment Fund. The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund was set up in 2015 as India's first sovereign-backed infrastructure fund, with the Government of India holding 49 per cent and the rest raised from Indian and foreign institutional investors. NIIFL manages it through a small family of vehicles: the Master Fund, formally the NIIF Sustainable Infrastructure Fund, which buys operating assets in core infrastructure such as roads, ports, airports and power; the Fund of Funds, now carried on NIIF's books as the Private Markets Fund, which anchors and invests in funds run by managers with a track record; and the Strategic Opportunities Fund, which supplies growth equity to strategic sectors. A fourth, the bilateral India-Japan Fund, was launched with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation in October 2023. There is no NIIF vehicle called a Global Investment Fund — the name is invented, which is what makes it the answer.

• (a)Master Fund — NIIF's largest vehicle, an infrastructure fund holding operating assets in roads, ports, airports and energy; its final close was announced at USD 2.34 billion.
• (b)Fund of Funds — A genuine NIIF vehicle, which anchors and invests in funds managed by established managers. NIIF now presents it as the Private Markets Fund, but the fund itself is one of its own.
• (c)Strategic Opportunities Fund — Also genuine — it provides long-term growth equity to strategic and growth-oriented sectors, and has been used to build up infrastructure-finance platforms.

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund was announced in 2015 to mobilise long-term capital for Indian infrastructure. It is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund, and is managed by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited. The Government holds 49 per cent of each fund, with the balance from institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and multilateral institutions; the structure lets public money crowd in private capital rather than replace it.

This is a which-one-is-invented item, and the reliable method is to recall the actual family rather than to judge the names for plausibility — all four sound like fund names. Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund are the trio that has been taught since 2015; anything else on the list is the answer. One honest complication worth knowing as of the September 2024 exam is that NIIF had by then renamed the Fund of Funds as the Private Markets Fund and added the India-Japan Fund, so the family had grown to four while the classic three names remained in circulation. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (b), on the ground that NIIF now presents that vehicle under a new name. A renamed vehicle is still one NIIF manages, whereas the fourth option names nothing that has ever existed, so this card takes (d).

• NIIF was set up in 2015; the Government of India holds 49 per cent, the rest coming from institutional investors.
• Its funds are the Master Fund (NIIF Sustainable Infrastructure Fund), the Fund of Funds — now the Private Markets Fund — and the Strategic Opportunities Fund.
• The bilateral India-Japan Fund was launched in October 2023 with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation as anchor investor, targeting about USD 600 million.
• NIIF's funds are registered with SEBI as Alternative Investment Funds.

• Confusing NIIF with the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which is a project list, not a fund.
• Assuming the Government owns the funds outright; its stake is 49 per cent.
• Missing that the Fund of Funds now appears as the Private Markets Fund in NIIF's own material.

As a which-one-is-not item on the funds, or as a statements item on NIIF's ownership structure and mandate.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  What is the Government of India's shareholding in each fund of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund?

  • (a)26 per cent
  • (b)49 per cent
  • (c)51 per cent
  • (d)74 per cent

  Answer(b) 49 per cent — the design keeps the Government below a majority so that private and foreign institutional capital is crowded in.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  NIIF's bilateral India-Japan Fund was launched in partnership with

  • (a)the Asian Development Bank
  • (b)the Japan Bank for International Cooperation
  • (c)the Japan International Cooperation Agency
  • (d)the New Development Bank

  Answer(b) the Japan Bank for International Cooperation — announced in October 2023 with a target corpus of about USD 600 million.