AIF investments swell to Rs 28,486 cr as of Dec quarter

The capital put in by alternative investment funds (AIFs) has risen to Rs 28,486 crore at the end of October-December quarter of the current fiscal, a surge of 14 per cent from the preceding three months.
The AIF investment has more than doubled from Rs 14,031 crore at the end of December last year.
AIFs are a class of pooled-in vehicles for investing in real estate, private equity and hedge funds and 268 such funds are registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) since 2012.
The investment made by AIFs stood at Rs 24,862 crore at the end of September quarter, Rs 20,667 crore as of the June quarter and Rs 18,237 crore at the end of March quarter, according to latest data available with Sebi.

The category I AIFs poured in Rs 3,867 crore, category II Rs 17,186 crore and category III Rs 7,433 crore.
In May 2012, the regulator notified the guidelines for this class of market intermediaries. At the end of December 2012, they pumped in just Rs 20 lakh, which has now jumped to more than Rs 28,000 crore.

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 the Sebi guidelines, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories.
The category-I AIFs are those funds that get incentives from the government and regulators and include social venture, infrastructure and venture capital funds.

The category-III AIFs are those trading with a view to making short-term returns and include hedge funds. 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 and debt funds or fund of funds.