NIIF raised Rs 19,000 crore ($2B) in the first close of its 2nd infrastructure fund, crossing 60% of its Rs 30,000 crore target.

The Government of India anchored this first close, and a broad mix of sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurers and Indian financial institutions came in alongside it.

The list of backers is fairly heavyweight. On the global side, there’s AustralianSuper, CPP Investments, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Temasek.

From India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Life Insurance and HDFC Life Insurance all put money in.

Several of these had already backed NIIF’s first infrastructure fund, and the company points to that repeat participation as a vote of confidence.

There’s more coming too. NIIF expects to raise another Rs 9,000 crore, around $950 million, through co-investment capital.

That structure lets investors back specific deals directly, separate from what they’ve already committed to the fund.

Energy, transport and digital infrastructure form the core focus, with urban infrastructure and electric mobility as newer additions to the mix. This builds on what came before.

NIIF’s first infrastructure fund raised Rs 16,000 crore and went into renewable energy, power transmission, battery storage, roads, ports, logistics, airports, data centres and smart metering.

Sanjiv Aggarwal, NIIF’s Managing Director and CEO, said the new fund shows continued confidence among partners in India’s infrastructure opportunity and in the firm’s ability to deploy long-term capital with discipline and strong governance.

Vinod Giri, who runs NIIF’s infrastructure business, said the second fund builds on operating capabilities from the first one and will invest selectively across established and emerging sectors, with a strong pipeline already lined up.

NIIF now manages more than $7 billion in commitments spanning infrastructure, private markets, growth equity and climate investments.

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