India is emerging as a shining star in Asia with various macro tailwinds favoring economic development and wealth creation. Global financiers are increasingly chasing the private banking opportunity in its onshore market.
Macro tailwinds, such as favorable demographic trends and a strong economic growth trajectory, are driving positive developments across the board in India. Its richest are seeing some of the benefits with the number of high net worth individuals expected to more than double from nearly 800,000 in 2022 to 1.66 million by 2027, according to Knight Frank data.
As a result, numerous financial institutions are setting up new private banking divisions or upping their ambitions in the onshore market.
Market Re-Entry
For some of the contending players, operating in India’s onshore market will not be a fresh experience.
HSBC, for example, launched a private banking arm in the country earlier this month, marking a re-entry after exiting the market eight years ago in 2015. The new business will target clients with investable assets of over $2 million and reportedly has plans to hire around 30 private bankers.
UBS is also re-entering the onshore market after inheriting the business from the government-brokered takeover of Credit Suisse. Its wealth management unit in India will be led by ex-Credit Suisse banker Puneet Matta.
Wealth Opportunity
Elsewhere, private banks are making their inaugural entry into India's wealth market or looking to further expand. LGT, for example, launched wealth management services onshore in October 2022 through a local entity that employs more than 200 staff with a presence in 14 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru.
Julius Baer has had a presence in India since 2015 as part of the broader acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s international wealth management business. In August 2022, it rolled out a five-year transformation strategy that aims to double the number of relationship managers and clients, triple assets under management and extend reach to new cities.
In the case of Barclays, it is doubling down on India in a rare move of making Mumbai the base for its newly hired Asia private banking head, Nitin Singh. Singh is a 20-year veteran and former Avendus Wealth Management executive who previously also held leadership roles at Standard Chartered and HSBC.
