EVs, clean tech steer IJF bets

The India-Japan Fund has invested just a third of its $600-mn corpus so far; plans full deployment in three years

- Rwit Ghosh

The fund targets firms with environmental impact and those boosting India-Japan corridor, including energy transition, efficiency, circular economy.

(MINT)

The $600 million India-Japan Fund has deployed just over a third of its capital to date, and will fully deploy funds within the next three years, a top executive at the fund said.

The fund recently made a $57 million investment in commercial EV maker EKA Mobility, which builds electric buses, cargo vehicles, and three-wheelers.

“With the EKA Mobility investment, we've deployed 34% of capital. Over the next two-three years, we're confident of deploying the balance,” Krishna Kumar, partner and fund head of IJF told Mint in an interview.

IJF is a part of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), an alternative asset manager anchored by the Indian government.

The NIIF is a quasi-sovereign fund since it blends government capital with domestic and international institutional investors. The government has committed 49% in IJF with Japan Bank for International Cooperation, or JBIC, contributing 51%.