The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is a government-backed investment platform established in February 2015 to mobilize long-term capital for infrastructure and other strategic sectors in India. It is structured as a Trust and registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) under the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012. The idea was announced in the Union Budget 2015-16 to address the long-term financing needs of the infrastructure sector, which traditional banks struggled to meet due to pressure from non-performing and stressed assets.
The NIIF works as an investment manager, pooling capital from the Government of India and institutional investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and multilateral institutions. The Government of India acts as the anchor investor, initially committing to a 49% stake in the funds, with the remaining capital mobilized from domestic and global investors. The NIIF is structured as a "fund of funds" with three distinct sub-funds: the Master Fund, the Fund of Funds (FoF), and the Strategic Opportunities Fund. The Master Fund invests in operating assets in core infrastructure sectors like roads and energy, while the FoF invests in other SEBI-registered funds managed by third parties. The Strategic Opportunities Fund makes growth and development-stage investments in large-scale projects.
The NIIF is connected to major national initiatives like PM Gati Shakti and Digital India. A key recent change is the approval of an additional Government of India investment commitment of ₹30,000 crore in June 2026, taking the government's total commitment to ₹60,000 crore. This additional commitment supports the NIIF Infrastructure Fund II, which has a target corpus of ₹30,000 crore and will invest in sectors like transportation, energy, digital infrastructure, and e-mobility.