Alternative investment funds raise 60% more in Q4

Have deployed Rs 3,348 cr

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The money raised by Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) was up 61.2 per cent in the March quarter over the previous one.

AIFs are a broad category of funds encompassing private equity, debt, real estate and even hedge funds. They’d  raised Rs 4,569 crore at the end of the March quarter, according to a note on the regulator’s website put up on Monday, compared to Rs 2,833 crore at the end of the previous three-month period.

Investors have also increased their commitments on further inflows over the past quarter. AIFs have garnered commitments of Rs 13,465 crore, up 20.4 per cent over the December quarter. The deployment was Rs 3,348 crore as March-end, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

There are three broad categories of AIFs. Category-I is of funds which might have a spillover impact on the economy and are eligible for certain concessions. An example of are funds with a focus on infrastructure. Category-II have no such concessions or incentives, including private equity funds and debt funds. Category-III includes those which can leverage their trades. Hedge funds come under this category.

Category-I funds raised Rs 757 crore, Category-II raised Rs 2,910 crore, while assets under management for Category-III funds was Rs 906 crore.

A break-up of funds within category-I showed infrastructure funds garnered the lion’s share of those raised. It accounted for Rs 608 crore, and also had commitments for a total of Rs 5,619 crore from investors, according to Sebi data. Social venture funds and venture capital funds, two other sub-categories, garnered Rs 78 crore and Rs 70.6 crore, respectively, in terms of funds raised.

There are currently 100 registered AIFs, according to data on the Sebi website.

Swapnil Pawar, chief investment officer at Karvy Capital, which runs a hedge fund as a category-III AIF, said more inflows could be expected in the near term. “There are a lot of people waiting for the (Lok Sabha) election outcome. The appetite for risky assets will likely go up once that is clear,” he said.

The regulator had sought to rationalise rules governing such funds and introduced guidelines in May 2012. It had set a minimum investment of Rs 1 crore for such funds.