India’s $1.1-trillion ( Rs 88 lakh crore) wealth management industry, which is expected to more than double to $2.3 trillion (around Rs 200 lakh crore) by FY29, is witnessing an unparalleled high demand for experienced relationship managers (RMs).
Sample this: Bhupinder Singh, founder of InCred Group, said he wants 300 RMs in the near-term. The demand is similar at 360One and ASK Wealth while Gautam Kalia, head – investment solutions and distribution – wants to hire 400 RMs ‘immediately.
“Wealth management is more profitable than mutual funds’ specialised investment funds (SIFs), growing significantly faster and no firm in the business is able to get enough RMs,” laments Gautam Kalia of Mirae Asset Sharekhan.
Ajay Menon, whole-time director & CEO of wealth management business at Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL), is also on RM hunt, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities where his firm is expanding.
According to industry players, top wealth management companies have prepared a war chest of over Rs 3,000 crore to hire top-rung RMs. “Top RMs are not just sales people but mini-chief investment officers (CIOs) to clients,” said Feroze Azeez, Joint CEO, Anand Rathi Wealth.
The additional benefit that these RMs provide is a ready book of clients, which firms see as a faster and more cost-effective route to shore up their assets under management.
The rise in the number of new millionaires (investible assets between $1 million to $5 million) has been quite staggering. India witnessed a significant wealth boom in 2024, adding more than 33,000 new millionaires in a single year, according to the World Wealth Report 2025 by Capgemini Research Institute. The number of high networth individuals rose by 5.6% to 378,810, up from around 345,000 in 2023. The number of family offices has risen from 45 in 2018 to 300 by 2024, according to a E&Y report.
According to the latest Deloitte India report, the demand for wealth management services in terms of assets under management (AUM) is expected to more than double, climbing from US$1.1 trillion in FY24 to US$2.3 trillion by FY29. The report underlined significant unmet demand for wealth management services.
In this backdrop, the high demand for RMs is not at all surprising, neither are the whopping salaries. A upper middle or senior level RM can easily attract annual salaries of `1 crore, excluding bonuses for exceeding targets.
“Firms increasingly pay richer variable components, long-term incentives including deferred bonus, retention bonus, ESOPs, and client-transfer fees to protect against churn and to align RMs with AUM growth,” said Anuj Kapoor, MD & CEO of private wealth at JM Financial.
Newer and smaller wealth management firms are also under intense pressure to offer even higher packages to hire and retain. “That’s creating intense competition for experienced RMs, upward pressure on the pay — large lateral hikes and sign-on bonuses,” he added.
Given the high cost of training in this highly competitive market and the time taken to develop relationships with the wealthy who will part with their money, wealth management firms have chosen to aggressively poach. “Firms are aggressively poaching RMs from private banks and people from investment banking, corporate banking, NBFCs, real estate and family-office backgrounds,” Kapoor said.
Even traditional equity brokerages are fast expanding in this business. Wealth management is a natural extension with higher margins, to serve captive clients, they said.
Barclays, Julius Baer, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, HSBC and LGT Wealth are among major foreign players in India’s wealth advisory. Domestic private banks, with hundreds of millions of customers, are strong competitors apart from boutiques and brokerages. Among demand for other roles, wealth management firms are also looking at advisors and product specialists to support RMs, an expert said.