Mutual fund houses knock on Sebi's door for a separate Reit/InvIT category

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₹8,416 crore as on Sept 30, 2023. REIT is a trust that owns, operates or finances income-generating real estate.

They were modeled after mutual funds as they accumulate the investment of a number of investors, enabling them to earn dividends without having to buy or manage the real estate. Since they are like publicly-traded stocks and therefore, are highly liquid unlike real assets.

InvITs are like a business trust (like REITs) which owns, operates and manages operational infrastructure assets such as roads, power plants and transmission lines, among others. These infrastructure assets then generate cash flows that are then distributed to the unitholders from time to time.

It is worth mentioning here that the markets regulator in its annual report 2022-23 mentioned that it is working to further develop the market for these trusts including bringing in norms for the follow-on offers by REITs and InvITs. To streamline the process of public issues of REITs and InvITs, the time taken for allotment and listing after the closure of the issue was reduced from 12 to six working days.

REITs and InvITs were introduced in India to provide investors with an opportunity to gain exposure to real estate and infrastructure projects respectively. Additionally, NSE recently launched the Nifty REITs and InvITs index to track the performance of REITs and InvITs that are listed, or listed but allowed to trade on the bourse."Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels