Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday invited sovereign wealth funds of the United Arab Emirates to invest in India's National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF), assuring it would provide good returns."It's a great opportunity for the UAE sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to make best use of it (NIIF) and make big investments in India," Jaitley said, according to a statement by India's finance ministry.The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has shown keen interest in making investment on NIIF, it said.The government had in July approved the creation of the NIIF with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore for development of infrastructure projects, including the stalled ones.
It decided last week that a governing council headed by the finance minister will oversee the activities of the NIIF. Jaitley is the chairman of the six-member council, while the economic affairs secretary will function as the council's secretary.Jaitley met with ADIA Managing Director Sheikh Hamed Bin Jayed Al Nahyan and Chairman, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court, where investment in various sectors including infrastructure were discussed.Sheikh Nahyan said his officials will be visiting India on November 19 to discuss the matter further.He also said ADIA was interested in investing for establishing strategic oil reserves at Mangaluru port in Karnataka.During the meeting, Jaitley mentioned the reforms taken recently by the government for attracting foreign investment in various sectors as a result of which FDI has increased by 40 percent during the current year over the previous year, the statement said.Jaitley is on a two-day visit to the UAE to acquaint the investors there about the various investment opportunities in India.