NIIF

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is a collaborative investment platform for international and Indian investors, anchored by the Government of India. NIIF invests across asset classes such as infrastructure, private equity and other diversified sectors in India, with the objective of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors through sustainable investing principles.

NIIF manages over $4.3 billion of capital commitments across its three funds – Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund, each with its distinct investment strategy.

The Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) is anchored by NIIF and DfID (Department for International Development, UK government). GGEF is a private equity fund focused on investing in commercially viable opportunities across climate-related sectors, such as renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, resource conservation, water, sanitation etc. It has already received committed funding of over $410 million from its investors and is targeting a fund corpus in excess of $700 million.

In a short period of two years, GGEF has been able to create a scalable portfolio comprising a large utility-scale renewable energy platform (Ayana Renewable Power), a distributed renewable energy platform for residential, commercial and industrial users (Radiance Renewables), an e-mobility platform (GreenCell Mobility) and a waste management platform (EverEnviro). The table below maps the GGEF model and its investment philosophy with the qualities identified under the GFC-6 framework.

Benefit sharing

One of the important objectives of GGEF is to channel its anchor capital to push scalable solutions for improving quality, efficiency and access to essential services such as water and sanitation, clean energy and transport, improved air/water quality etc.

Environmental resilience

A core focus area for GGEF is investing in scalable opportunities related to no-carbon and low-carbon solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce environmental impacts. Creation of platforms in sectors such as green energy, clean transport etc. are clear testimonies to this focus, a dimension consistent with environmental resilience.

Economic and institutional effectiveness

By onboarding a best-in-class fund manager (EverSource Capital), attracting marquee investors such as BP and creating robust governance mechanisms, GGEF is in a position to create superior value for its investors and portfolio stakeholders. In this manner, the GGEF model offers economic and institutional effectiveness.

Future-proofing

Investing in assets that can handle emerging societal needs and technological advances is a core aspect of the fund’s investment philosophy. GGEF’s platforms in e-mobility (GreenCell Mobility) and residential and commercial renewables energy space (Radiance Renewables) are clear examples of this particular dimension.

Critical mass potential

GGEF has put in place a platform-based strategy for deploying its capital. It will typically set up new platforms for making an investment and onboard well-experienced teams for managing them efficiently. This strategy helps GGEF to promote operational replicability and scalability across its portfolio.

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is a collaborative investment platform for international and Indian investors, anchored by the Government of India. NIIF invests across asset classes such as infrastructure, private equity and other diversified sectors in India, with the objective of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors through sustainable investing principles.

NIIF manages over $4.3 billion of capital commitments across its three funds – Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund, each with its distinct investment strategy.

IntelliSmart Infrastructure is a joint venture between NIIF’s infrastructure fund and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public-sector enterprise under the Indian Ministry of Power with a mandate to mainstream energy efficiency initiatives in the country. IntelliSmart was set up with a vision to accelerate a smart power meter roll-out programme across the country and thus improve energy efficiency and enhance reliability, affordability and access to around-the-clock power for all stakeholders. The company expects to play a key role in the government’s plans of installing 250 million smart meters over the next few years.

Benefit Sharing

Enabling access to around-the-clock, reliable and affordable power to all is a key priority of the government and, in this regard, IntelliSmart will strive to play a significant role by generating significant commercial benefits for power distribution companies and, at the same time, empowering end-users to make informed choices about power supply and consumption. This way, IntelliSmart will help improve access to power in an equitable and inclusive manner.

Social Acceptability

An integral dimension of IntelliSmart is that it will work collaboratively with all stakeholders, including the government, distribution companies, vendors, suppliers and end-users to procure, deploy and provide operations and maintenance for the smart meter infrastructure across the country.

Economic and institutional effectiveness

Through IntelliSmart, NIIF and EESL have been able to create a platform that has access to long-term capital, private-sector efficiencies, access to technology and a track record in executing smart meter roll-out projects. The platform seeks to deliver superior economic and institutional effectiveness to all its stakeholders.

Future-proofing

IntelliSmart has been set up with a vision to offer end-to-end solutions to its clients including the installation of smart meters and providing timely operational and maintenance support throughout the life cycle of the underlying assets. In addition to enhancing efficiency in the delivery of services, which is a key feature of tomorrow’s infrastructure, EESL is also helping to create decentralized delivery models (through rapid scale-up of smart metering), an important aspect of post-COVID-19 infrastructure design.

Critical mass potential

Given the backing of both NIIF and EESL, IntelliSmart is well placed to contribute in rapidly scaling up smart meter projects across the country, thereby ensuring that it displays the critical mass potential quality as elucidated in the GFC-6 framework.