Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) penalized singleton of Rs. 30 Lakh for violating AIF norms pertaining to alternative investment fund.

The sponsor’s initial contribution before June 29, 2015 was Rs 5 crore in India Growth Opportunities Fund (IGOF), however, after June 30, 2015, it was reduced to Rs 3.13 crore.

Since, the money raised by the fund was Rs 790 crore, hence, the money contributed by the sponsor should have been at least Rs 5 crore. However, it failed in maintaining the required interest.

Under AIF Regulations, the manager or sponsor is required to have at least two and half per cent of the corpus or Rs 5 crore, whichever is lower, in the form of investment.

Besides, SEBI noted that the fund invested Rs 299 crore in Loop Mobile Holding India Ltd, which is 35 per cent of total investible corpus. Further, Rs 222 crore was invested in ESSAR Projects India Ltd, which is 26 per cent of investible corpus in violation of the norm.

AIFs cannot invest more than 25 per cent of the investible funds in one Investee Company under the regulation.

Source: Times of India