India Investment Fund NIIF Said To Pick Rajiv Dhar As First CIO

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which is India's largest fund dedicated to investing in the country's infrastructure sector, has reportedly appointed Rajiv Dhar as its first Chief Investment Officer (CIO). This information was first reported by sources familiar with the matter to Business Standard, a leading business daily in India.

NIIF is a fund managed by the Ministry of Finance with an initial corpus of $6.5 billion, which was later increased to $10 billion. The fund aims to invest in infrastructure projects in sectors such as roads, power, renewable energy, and transportation. The appointment of a CIO is a significant move for NIIF as it will help the fund in making strategic investment decisions and managing its portfolio more effectively.

Rajiv Dhar is a seasoned financial professional with over two decades of experience in the industry. He was previously working with Blackstone Group, a leading global investment firm, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate for India and South East Asia. In his role at Blackstone, he was responsible for managing a portfolio of real estate assets worth over $5 billion.

Before joining Blackstone, Dhar worked with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase in various capacities in their real estate and infrastructure equity businesses. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.

The appointment of Rajiv Dhar as the CIO of NIIF is expected to bring in valuable expertise and experience to the fund, which will help it in achieving its investment objectives and contributing to India's infrastructure development. The fund has already made some significant investments in various infrastructure projects in India, including a $1.5 billion investment in the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project and a $1 billion investment in the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project. With Dhar's leadership, NIIF is likely to make more such investments in the future.