IIFL Wealth
Highly Regarded
When IIFL Wealth claims it has a “wealth of offerings”, it is less a pun than a statement of fact.
The firm – whose CEO is Karan Bhagat and president is Girish Venkataraman – has a multi-dimensional role in India’s wealth management industry. It is a distributor, broker, lender, estate planner, registered investment adviser, mutual fund manager, alternative investments manager and portfolio manager at a moment when India’s richest are scrambling for all of the above.
Perhaps more importantly, IIFL Wealth does just about everything well, making it one of the fastest-growing private wealth managers in Asia’s third-largest economy. Assets under management grew 54%, year on year, in 2021.
IIFL Wealth reckons it can comfortably maintain 17% to 20% AUM growth even as global economic dynamics go awry. Yet what’s most impressive about IIFL Wealth’s trajectory is its big pivot toward being the go-to firm for wealth transfer and succession planning.
The primary goal for its estate planning services is to ensure that a wealth earner’s wishes are fulfilled, keeping in mind family dynamics and shifts in asset pools. The aim is seamless succession plans detailed and carried out in a tax-advantageous manner without incurring the wrath of the courts. That’s easier said than done in India, where tax codes are vague and reform efforts are, at best, a work in process. But IIFL Wealth’s status as trustee to more than 400 of India’s top family private trusts gives it unrivalled experience.
IIFL Investment Adviser and Trustee Services (IATSL) has portfolio assets of $1 billion, while business ownerships under custody top $700 million with a client base spread across 22 domestic and international locations. The services provided include trusts and wills, writing family constitutions, asset protection strategies, and advice on residency and domicile status.
The methodology aims to minimize the hassle associated with transfer, while protecting the assets. A vital part of the process is successfully segregating the economic benefits and voting rights from business assets. So is ring-fencing personal assets from business and professional exigencies, while reducing the chances of dispute within families over succession. All this needs to be managed while maintaining the confidentiality of wishes, safeguarding the interests of minors and special family members and managing intergenerational wealth.
The IIFL IATSL offering has never been busier in assisting families in planning the succession of financial assets, immovable assets, jewellery, art and artefacts.
The primary goal is that wealth is seamlessly passed on to the beneficiaries in the most efficient manner. That means innovative, tailor-made solutions based on differing objectives, while maintaining the highest standards of integrity and professional ethics.
It’s easier said than done, but IIFL Wealth makes it look easy.