Investments made by AIFs have crossed the Rs 24,800-crore mark at the end of the second quarter of 2016-17, a jump of 20 per cent from the preceding three months.

Year-on-year, AIF investments have more than doubled from Rs 11,254.71 crore at the end of September last year.

Alternative Investment Funds are a class of pooled-in vehicles for investing in real estate, private equity and hedge funds.

AIF investments stood at Rs 24,862.19 crore as of September 30 compared with Rs 20,667.2 crore at the end of June 30, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data.

Category I AIFs poured in Rs 3,517 crore, Category II Rs 15,334 crore and Category III Rs 6,010 crore.

SEBI had in May 2012 notified the guidelines for this class of market intermediaries. At the end of December 2012, they had pumped in just Rs 20 lakh, which has now jumped to more than Rs 24,000 crore.

AIFs are funds set up or incorporated in India for the purpose of pooling in capital from Indian and foreign investors for investment as per a pre-decided policy.

Under SEBI guidelines, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories. Category-I AIFs are those funds that get incentives from the government, SEBI or other regulators and include social venture, infrastructure, venture capital and SME funds.

Category-III AIFs are those trading with a view to making short-term returns and include hedge funds.

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, debt 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 had earlier this year suggested favourable tax regime and measures to attract long-term funds from domestic and overseas investors.

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