The wealthy in small-town Indian are embracing sophisticated, riskier portfolios
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Sophisticated, high-risk investments are no longer confined to the rich in metropolitan cities.
Thanks to increased awareness following the pandemic, the wealthy in India’s smaller cities, such as Indore, Kochi, Nashik, Nagpur and Rourkela, are becoming more comfortable with products offered by portfolio managers. Portfolio management services (PMS) providers create concentrated and customized options with equity and debt.
Unlike the diversified mutual funds aimed at retail investors, PMS firms have a higher entry ticket size of ₹50 lakh, catering to high-net-worth individuals who are comfortable with higher risk. The PMS industry’s share of clients from non-metros has surged over the past three years, according to a Mint analysis of investors of some of the top firms in India.
For instance, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co, one of the largest portfolio managers in the country with PMS assets worth ₹27,000 crore, has seen the share of such investors from non-metros nearly triple in three years from 10-12% to 30%. “Earlier, the majority of the money from non-metro cities used to come from Surat and Rajkot from Gujarat, where investment into equities is high," said Praveen Ladia, chief executive officer at Karma Capital.
“Now with the scope and awareness of alternatives increasing, we are seeing flows coming from Jodhpur, Raipur, Aurangabad, Indore and as far as Guwahati and Tirupur also." Overall, the PMS industry’s client count has nearly doubled, from about 130,000 to 220,000 in three years through October, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The industry’s assets under management (AUM)–excluding employee provident fund (EPFO) money
. Read on livemint.com