Foreign SWFs, PE funds seek India investment avenues

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) from countries like Singapore and UAE as well as private equity funds today lined-up to explore investment avenues in India but they sought easy regulatory regime and appointment of a CEO of the country's maiden investment vehicle NIIF before committing their money.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley showcased investment opportunities in sectors ranging from roads and highways to energy to the select audience, which included European Investment Bank and PE funds from the US, the UK and Canada.
He also held closed door discussions with of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's MD Sheikh Hamid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, besides courting officials of pension funds and institutional investors to present them the opportunity India offers at an event here.

It wasn't officially revealed if any investment was committed.
Royal Bank of Canada chief representative Akhauri Sinha said: "Any investor would look at the long term viability. So the more the (regulatory) clarity emerges, that will give us better comfort, a call can be taken about it. So it's little early to say that we are coming with investment. We have to wait and watch."
European Investment Bank said it was ready to commit funds as there is a great scope for infrastructure development in India, but would like to see the commercial viability of the infrastructure projects.

"We are committed to India. But before we commit any funds, we would first want to see the quality of the projects which would need funding," European Investment Bank Country Manager (South Asia) Sunita Lukkhoo said.

The two-day India Investment Summit, organised by the Finance Ministry, saw participation from investors across the globe today.
The summit has been organised to attract funds for the newly created National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which is an investment vehicle for funding projects.
The Rs 40,000-crore fund will have government holding of 49 per cent and the rest will be of private investors.
State Bank of India too said it would look at the possibility of participating in NIIF.
"We will also look at whether we want to get involved in NIIF, as you know SBI is debt lender. Our equity appetite is very low but to the extent that we do invest in various funds. We will think about some of these also.

"At this point of time, we have not taken a call on NIIF investment. The fund manager has to be in place, management structure has to get in place," SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters.
In his address at the event, Jaitley told investors that India offers a stable policy regime.
He said Indian economy has shown resilience in times of global slowdown and in the last 19 months the government eased process of doing business as well as opened gates for foreign direct investments.