The Kerala government has constituted a five-member expert committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the institutional, financial, governance and operational framework of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), with the aim of strengthening its long-term sustainability and improving governance standards.
The committee, headed by former Finance Secretary Sudha Pillai, includes former Federal Bank MD and CEO Shyam Srinivasan, former ICAI Chairman Nilesh Vikamsey, former CAG Audit Board Director H. Shubhalakshmi Narayanan, and former Union Revenue Secretary Dr. Tarun Bajaj. It has been tasked with recommending measures for KIIFB’s restructuring.
Gold 101.3FM, UAE’s No.1 radio station, reports that the panel will review KIIFB’s original objectives, institutional framework and operational mandate, besides examining its borrowing strategies, including Masala Bonds and other market instruments, to assess whether they supported financially sustainable infrastructure projects and resulted in avoidable financial costs.
The committee will also evaluate fund utilisation, including whether investments addressed key infrastructure gaps and were distributed equitably across districts and sectors. It will examine compliance with constitutional, legal, financial and audit norms, including concerns over assigning state revenues directly to KIIFB instead of routing them through the Consolidated Fund of the State.
In addition, the panel will review KIIFB’s governance structure, recruitment and human resource policies, the future of its subsidiary entities, and its relevance in light of the Centre’s regulatory framework on off-budget borrowings by states.
An internal coordination mechanism under the Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) has been established to assist the panel, which can also seek support from institutions such as the Centre for Development Studies and the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation. The committee has been given three months to submit its report.
