AIF investments rise 25% to Rs 14,000 cr in Oct-Dec qtr

Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have made investments to the tune of more than Rs 14,000 crore during October-December quarter, a surge of 25 per cent from the preceding three months.
AIFs are the newly created class of pooled-in investment vehicles for real estate, private equity and hedge funds.
They made investments to the tune of Rs 14,031 crore in three months ended December 31, 2015, higher than Rs 11,255 crore infused in July-September quarter, according to latest data available with Sebi.
The Category I AIFs poured in Rs 2,656 crore, Category II Rs 7,602 crore and Category III Rs 3,771 crore.

The regulator had notified in May 2012, the guidelines for this class of market intermediaries. Since then, they have been making investment.
At the end of December 2012, they pumped in just Rs 20 lakh which has now jumped to Rs 14,031 crore.

More than 150 AIFs have been registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since 2012.
AIFs are funds established or incorporated in India for the purpose of pooling in capital from Indian and foreign investors for investing as per a pre-decided policy. Under Sebi guidelines, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories.
The Category-I AIFs are those funds that get incentives from the government, Sebi or other regulators and include social venture funds, infrastructure funds, venture capital funds and SME funds.

The Category-III AIFs are those trading with a view to making short-term returns and includes hedge funds, among others. The Category-II AIFs can invest anywhere in any combination but are prohibited from raising debt, except for meeting their day-to-day operational requirements.
These AIFs include private equity funds, debt funds or fund of funds, as also all others falling outside the ambit of above two other categories.
Pitching for drastic changes in norms governing venture capital and private equity funds, a Sebi panel last month suggested favourable tax regime and measures to attract long-term funds from domestic and overseas investors.