New Delhi: As many as 20 entities have sought SEBI's approval to set up Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), a newly created class of pooled-in investment vehicles for real estate, private equity and hedge funds.

Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has already allowed seven AIFs to set shop in the country, all of which got their approvals from the market regulator last month.

As per the latest Sebi data, 20 applications were pending with Sebi for registration as AIFs as on August 31, 2012.

The regulator had notified in May this year the guidelines for a new class of market intermediaries named AIFs, which are basically funds established or incorporated in India for the purpose of pooling in of capital from Indian and foreign investors for investing as per a pre-decided policy.

Out of the 20 pending applications, Sebi said 15 applications are "being processed", while the regulator has sought further details from five others as they had provided "incomplete information" as on August 31.

Most of these applications were filed in August, while some were submitted in June and July as well.

Sebi last month decided that the promoters of listed companies can offload 10 per cent of equity to AIFs to attain minimum 25 percent public holding.

Among others, the registration has been sought by CapAleph Indian Millenium Fund, DSP BlackRock, HDFC AMC Real Estate, India Advantage Fund, India Realty Fund, Kedaara Capital, Kotak Alternative Opportunities Fund, Real Estate Opportunities Trust and Start-up Village Fund.

Besides, the entities whose applications have "incomplete information" are -- CapAleph Indian Millenium Private Equity Fund, DARC MentorCap Film Fund, IIFL Opportunities Fund, IIFL Private Equity Fund and L&T Infra Investment Partners.

Already Sebi-registered AIFs include IFCI Syncamore India Infrastructure Fund, Excedo Realty Fund, Sabre Partners Trust and KKR India Alternate Credit Opportunities Fund.

Under Sebi guidelines, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories. The Sebi rules apply to all AIFs, including those operating as private equity funds, real estate funds and hedge funds, among others.

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 make short-term returns and include 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 PE funds, debt funds or fund of funds, as also all others falling outside the ambit of two other categories.