Average assets handled by each relationship manager, or RM, are expected to climb to ₹4.8 billion from ₹3.7 billion over the same period, according to a Motilal Oswal Financial Services report.
The bottleneck has shifted decisively from finding clients to finding experienced advisers. Competition among banks, private equity-backed platforms and specialist wealth firms is driving lateral hiring, salary inflation and signing incentives, while internally trained advisers typically require 18-24 months to become fully productive.
The shortage is particularly acute in the ultra high net worth (HNI) segment, where advisory credibility and longstanding client relationships are difficult to replicate. Wealth managers are offering lateral hires salary increases of 20-40%, along with multi-year guaranteed bonuses and signing incentives, Motilal said.
That raises the risk that India’s wealth boom will inflate costs faster than revenue unless firms can improve adviser productivity. Employee expenses are already the most significant operating cost for listed wealth managers, making the ability to retain talent, build internal pipelines and spread costs over larger asset pools central to profitability.
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The challenge is emerging just as India’s wealth-management opportunity enters a new phase. The country’s population of individuals worth more than $30 million rose from 12,161 in 2021 to 19,877 in 2026, increasing India’s share of the global ultra-rich population to 2.8% from 2.2%. That number is projected to reach 25,217 by 2031, according to Knight Frank data.
Mumbai alone accounts for 35.4% of India’s ultra HNI population. The number of Indian billionaires is forecast to climb from 207 in 2026 to 313 in 2031, placing the country among the 10 fastest-growing billionaire markets.Yet only about 15% of India’s wealth is professionally managed, compared with 75% in the US. Financial assets account for 25% of Indian wealth, against 70% in the US. About 35-40% of India’s affluent households were either self-managed or informally managed in fiscal 2024, according to Deloitte data.
That under-penetration has already begun translating into rapid growth for investment products aimed at wealthy clients. Assets under management in portfolio management services rose to ₹41.4 trillion by March 2026 from ₹23.5 trillion in 2021. Commitments to alternative investment funds climbed to more than ₹7 trillion from ₹1.8 trillion over the same period.
The wider industry is also expanding faster than the regional market. India’s asset and wealth management assets are projected to reach $1.7 trillion by 2030 from $0.9 trillion in 2024, an annual growth rate of 11.6%, according to PwC. Asia-Pacific assets are forecast to grow at 6.8% annually to $34.5 trillion over the same period.
“India’s path to US$1.7 trillion in AWM assets by 2030 reflects something larger than the asset management industry itself,” said Vivek Prasad, chief commercial officer and financial services leader at PwC India. “The task now — for industry, regulators, and policymakers alike — is to ensure that this growth is matched by the quality of advice, governance, and investor protection that a market of this scale will demand.”
An estimated $1.5 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer over the coming decade will make the advisory requirement more complex. Firms will need to offer more than mutual funds and stock recommendations as wealthy families seek private-market investments, structured products, estate planning, lending and cross-border solutions.
That complexity limits the ability of technology to replace relationship managers. Artificial intelligence-enabled research, customer-management systems and portfolio analytics can allow each adviser to handle larger and more sophisticated accounts, but the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth markets remain relationship-driven, Motilal Oswal said.
Digital-first models may capture mass-affluent investors, while AI tools automate research and basic portfolio work. For richer clients, technology is more likely to expand an adviser’s capacity than eliminate the adviser.
India’s digital infrastructure is nevertheless widening the customer funnel. The country has 192 million demat account holders and monthly systematic investment plan inflows exceeding $3 billion. More than 40% of new SIPs originate in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities. India also has 78-80% banked penetration, 1.4 billion Aadhaar identities and about $2.5 trillion in annual transactions through the Unified Payments Interface.
“India is not a single market for AWM firms — it has at least two distinct ones running in parallel,” said Sidharth Diwan, partner and leader for asset and wealth management at PwC India. While the retail market requires mobile-first products and distribution, the institutional and high-net-worth market is being shaped by reforms in pensions, insurance and alternatives, he said.
“For most managers, the practical question is sequencing — which capabilities to build first, and how to participate in both inbound and outbound flows over the next three to five years,” Diwan said.
The largest firms are responding by building platforms that reduce their dependence on individual relationship books. Product depth, research, discretionary management and specialist access can tie customers more closely to the institution rather than a single adviser.
Nuvama Wealth increased its HNI relationship manager count to 1,100 in FY26 from 900 in FY23, while its ultra HNI team expanded to 145 from 120. It has also begun using generative AI-led advisory tools and is expanding its asset-management product suite.
360 ONE Wealth, meanwhile, has combined its B&K Securities and ET Money acquisitions with a UBS collaboration to extend its reach across institutional research, investment banking, offshore wealth and mass-affluent distribution. Its relationship-manager count rose to 163 in fiscal 2026 from 128 a year earlier, although additions over recent years have also been offset by attrition.
Motilal Oswal shifted its preference within the listed wealth-management segment to 360 ONE, arguing that investments in the HNI business, ET Money, B&K and the UBS partnership should strengthen its earnings profile. It expects 360 ONE’s revenue and profit to grow at annual rates of 18% and 20%, respectively, between FY26 and FY28. The stock was valued at 27 times estimated fiscal 2028 earnings in the report.
The brokerage also retained a buy rating on Nuvama, forecasting revenue and profit growth of 17% and 19%, respectively, over the same period.
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