Bajaj Capital plans to relaunch its investment advisory services with a better packaged offering and clearly defined value for customers, Rajiv Bajaj, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, has said.

A separate subsidiary may be floated for the investment advisory business, Bajaj said.

He highlighted that there was big scope for growth in fee-based advisory business.

This relaunched advisory offering will be targeted at the mass affluent market.

Financial planners and investment advisers are tweaking their business models to cope with the regulatory changes and changing expectations of customers.

Regulatory changes

The move to launch fee-based advisory business through a separate subsidiary is partly driven by regulatory changes, Bajaj said.

Capital market regulator has been focusing at regulatory changes that would not only improve transparency in the market, but also bring about cost reduction for the investors.

“We don’t view the regulatory changes with scepticism. We will adapt to the changes. But one important thing they should think through is administrative convenience. Then only effective implementation can come about.”

Bajaj also said that no final decision has yet been made as to whether the branding for the new subsidiary will be the same as Bajaj Capital or something new will be introduced.

The to be relaunched advisory business will focus on traditional financial assets — debt, equity, mutual funds, etc — to start with, before bringing other segments such as real estate advisory, he said.

He also made it clear that Bajaj Capital was not insecure about ‘direct model’ now facilitated by the capital market regulator. “We are taking that as a challenge.”

>Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

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