We report the results of our ongoing search for extincted supernovae ( SNe ) at near-infrared wavelengths .
We have monitored at 2.2 \mu m a sample of 46 Luminous Infrared Galaxies and detected 4 SNe .
The number of detections is still small but sufficient to provide the first estimate of supernova rate at near-infrared wavelengths .
We measure a SN rate of SN ^ { NIR } _ { r } = 7.6 \pm 3.8 SNu which is an order of magnitude larger than observed in quiescent galaxies .
On the other hand , the observed near-infrared rate is still a factor 3 - 10 smaller than that estimated from the far-infrared luminosity of the galaxies .
Among various possibilities , the most likely scenario is that dust extinction is so high ( A _ { V } > 30 ) to obscure most SNe even in the near-IR .

The role of type Ia SNe is also discussed within this context .
We derive the type Ia SN rate as a function of the stellar mass of the galaxy and find a sharp increase toward galaxies with higher activity of star formation .
This suggests that a significant fraction of type Ia SNe are associated with young stellar populations .

Finally , as a by-product , we give the average K-band light curve of core-collapse SNe based on all the existing data , and review the relation between SN rate and far-infrared luminosity .