View on the Fund

Northern Arc Money Market Alpha is a Category III Open-Ended AIF designed as a liquid-plus strategy, suitable for investors seeking to park capital over short durations while targeting yields in the ~9% range. What makes this fund attractive is the high levels of liquidity, combined with superior yields to liquid/arbitrage funds, that make it an attractive option especially for corporate treasuries.

Strategy

Stable short duration investing

Fund's Strategy View

Northern Arc Money Market Alpha primarily invests in short-duration money market instruments such as commercial papers, non-convertible debentures (NCDs), certificates of deposit, and treasury bills, maintaining an average maturity of 3–6 months. The portfolio is structured into three segments: - **Credit Segment (65–70%)**: Allocated to short-term papers issued by NBFCs and financial institutions from Northern Arc’s proprietary originator pool of 300+ entities, all rated A3+ or higher - **Liquid Segment (20-25%)**: Invested in highly rated liquid instruments (A1+ or higher) to ensure adequate liquidity for redemptions - **Semi-Liquid Segment (10-15%)**: Allocated to entities from Northern Arc’s proprietary originator pool of 300+ entities which ensure ~8-10% of the portfolio mature every month, all rated A1+ or higher

Fund Performance

Short Duration funds have limited differentiation between funds in terms of performance, with the exception of a few specific funds with past credit issues.

View on AMC

We recognise Northern Arc’s strong institutional capabilities in credit origination, underwriting, and structuring, particularly across India’s financial inclusion ecosystem. Over the past 14 years, the platform has built durable sourcing advantages through deep originator relationships (300+ NBFC partnerships), proprietary field-level data, and disciplined credit selection. This is evidenced by six fully exited fund vintages (2015–2021) that delivered above-target returns with zero defaults. Based on this track record and execution strength, we recommend Northern Arc as a credible option in the private credit space

AMC's Pedigree

Northern Arc Capital has built a credible credit platform with demonstrated underwriting and origination capabilities. Its asset management arm, Northern Arc Investments, has scaled to over 6,500 crore in AUM and brings a 10+ year AIF track record (since 2014). This is evidenced by six fully exited fund vintages (2015–2021) that delivered above-target returns with zero defaults

AMC Team

The fund management team does not carry deep senior-level institutional asset management pedigree, with the company seeming to be focusing more on the credit underwriting skills of the larger organisation (as compared to star fund managers). Bhavdeep Bhatt (CEO) brings over 25 years of experience across leading AMCs such as Kotak, ICICI Prudential, and Aditya Birla; however, his prior roles were primarily within sales & products rather than direct credit investing, and his tenure at Northern Arc spans approximately three years. The fund managers, Archana Rangarajan and Shubham Katiyar, each bring around nine years of experience, largely across transaction advisory roles (EY, Deloitte) and direct lending at Northern Arc Capital. While they demonstrate strong credit analytical capability, they have not previously operated as senior fiduciary decision-makers managing pooled capital across cycles. The Investment Committee comprises senior Northern Arc Capital executives with extensive credit market experience, but similarly without a prior independent fund management track record before the establishment of this platform.

Investment Philosophy

Northern Arc’s investment philosophy is rooted in its deep credit underwriting capabilities, built over years of operating as a credit platform through its lending and syndication businesses. Its ability to leverage proprietary data, conduct rigorous due diligence, and maintain active relationships with over 300 originator NBFCs across India strengthens its credit sourcing pipeline for the PMS and AIF platforms