The Hindu Business Line : Wealth management concept picking up

AS the guaranteed return schemes are fast vanishing, equity related investments have come to occupy the `core' part of any investment planning, creating a demand for professional wealth managers, according to Mr V. Mahadevan, Chief Executive Officer, Wealth Advisors (India) Pvt Ltd (WAI), Chennai.

The company, which has `assets under advice' of about Rs 750 crore in the first year of its operations, expects to double it in the next one year, he said.

WAI, which opened its Coimbatore office early this month, the fourth in the country after Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore, is also seriously looking at the opportunity of making an entry in the Gulf region that has a large ethnic Indian population.

Speaking to Business Line, he said he visualised a `very large opportunity' for the next 15-20 years for the financial services professionals. He said since launching its operations about a year back, the `assets under advice' of WAI has grown to about Rs 750 crore now.

The turnover could be much more but after adjusting any withdrawal, the value of assets `live' was around Rs 750 crore and in the next one year, he expected the value of assets to double.

The company was looking at Pune as an opportunity and West Asia was also on the company's radar, in view of the demand from the Indian population in the region.

Mr Mahadevan said WAI operated in three segments - institution segment that catered to banks, institutions, insurance companies, PFs, trusts and corporates, High Net worth segment that dealt with SMEs and high net worth investors, and Wealth Zone to cater to the needs of retail investors.

The products offered included a wide range of investment options - mutual funds, corporate debt, equity shares, corporate deposits, life and general insurance and small savings schemes. However, WAI did not have any investment product of its own and it did not charge any fee from its customers for the investment advisory services.

Apart from investment advice, WAI also provided assistance in taxation and estate planning through its panel of legal and taxation experts.

At present, the company was offering equity broking facility only to high net worth clients. But he was hopeful of extending this service to retail clients too during next year.

He said equity investment has emerged as a `necessity' and individual investors today felt much more comfortable with investing through the mutual funds than even a few years back.

He said WAI's core clientele consisted of those who had investible surplus in the range of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 10 crore.

The company adopted a client-centric model, attaching itself not to products but to its clients and its objective was to develop investment options that suited the customer profile.

WAI is part of the J.V. Gokal group that is in the commodities and financial services business, having acquired the Birla Sunlife Securities Ltd, now renamed as BRICS Securities Ltd.

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