what is Alternative Investment Fund (AIF)?
Alternative Investment Fund or AIF means any fund established or incorporated in India which is a privately pooled investment vehicle which collects funds from sophisticated investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors.
AIF does not include funds covered under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, SEBI (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 1999 or any other regulations of the Board to regulate fund management activities. Further, certain exemptions from registration are provided under the AIF Regulations to family trusts set up for the benefit of ‘relatives‘ as defined under Companies Act, 1956, employee welfare trusts or gratuity trusts set up for the benefit of employees, ‘holding companies‘ within the meaning of Section 4 of the Companies Act, 1956 etc.
Types of AIF
As per existing SEBI classification, these private investment funds have been divided into 3 unique categories – Category I, Category II and Category III, with the minimum qualifying corpus amount for these schemes being Rs. 20 Crores. The only exception to this rule is an ‘angel fund’, which is a subcategory of Category I AIFs, as they have lower qualifying criteria in terms of fund corpus at Rs. 10 crores. Let’s discuss them in a little more detail to gain a clear understanding of each category:
Category I:
Venture Capital Funds, Startup / Early stage funds, Infrastructure funds – These are those AIFs which are positive and beneficial to the Indian economy and enhance growth. Hence, these funds receive incentives or concessions by SEBI or the government of India. Such funds generally invest in start-ups or early-stage ventures, social ventures, SMEs, infrastructure or other sectors which are considered socially or economically important for the country.
Category II
Private equity funds – Private equity (PE) funds, especially Real Estate PE funds, typically reduce the risk profile by offering diversified investment portfolios managed by experienced fund managers. Thus, it provides the dual benefit of a defensive investment alternative as well as a hedging mechanism by offering an alternative investment asset class.
Category III
Hedge funds – Category III AIFs are a unique class of privately pooled funds that employ a range of complicated trading strategies including but not limited to arbitrage, margin trading, futures and derivatives trading, etc. to generate returns. This category of AIF is also allowed to utilise leverage in order to make investments in both unlisted and listed derivatives as specified by SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulation, 2012. Leading examples under this alternative investment fund category include PIPE Funds and Hedge Funds.
