‘Private credit will not replace bank credit’

Ascertis Credit last week raised $520 million (nearly ₹ 4,600 crore) in the first close of Fund IV of $ 1 billion, targeted by the end of the next year.

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In an interview with Raghavendra Kamath, Kanchan Jain, head of Ascertis Credit Group, speaks about the fund manager's plans and the private credit market in the country. Excerpts:Your previous fund was around $475 million. What gives you confidence to scale it up to $1 billion?

The underlying market has expanded very significantly. What we specialise in is providing growth capital in the form of debt to companies across sectors. Companies need capital for multiple reasons and bank credit can't fund them all. We can provide a holistic solution over and above bank lines. We will look at the next two, three, four years. We'll disperse it in tranches. We feel that private credit in India will not replace bank credit. It's incremental to bank credit.

The RBI has allowed banks to do acquisition financing. How will it affect private credit funds like yours that are active in the segment?