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Indian wealth managers are hiring more staff and expanding in
smaller cities, seeking to attract rising numbers of newly
minted millionaires as high costs and regulatory restrictions
drive some global rivals to scale down.
India was the world's fastest-growing wealth management market
last year, according to a CapGemini and RBC Wealth Management
study, spurred largely by rising personal income as well as a
boom in e-commerce start-ups.
To take advantage of the growth, local firms such as IIFL Wealth
and Kotak Wealth Management, which have long dominated the
industry, plan to add more branches and bankers in the coming
months.
IIFL Wealth manages assets worth about $12 billion and General
Atlantic's acquisition of a stake will reduce the holding of
parent company IIFL Holdings Ltd to roughly 54 percent, IIFL
said in a notice to exchanges on Sunday.
The rest will be owned by the staff of IIFL Wealth, a person
with direct knowledge of the transaction told Reuters on Monday,
adding the fresh funds would be used to expand its services and
launch new investment platforms.
IIFL Wealth plans to increase the number of its client-facing
staff to 200 from 160 in the next couple of months, its
Executive Director Yatin Shah told Reuters last month.
Local firms control 75 percent of the Indian wealth management
market, industry executives say, and their expansion plans will
put more pressure on global banks, which are struggling with
higher wages and a narrower client base.
($1 = 64.9525 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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