2 stocks riding India’s Rs 600-trillion wealth boom

A quiet transformation is reshaping how Indians manage money.

For generations, wealth meant gold, property and fixed deposits. Today, it increasingly means mutual funds, portfolio management services (PMS) and alternate investments.

India’s household wealth now exceeds Rs 600 trillion and a growing share of it is flowing into financial products.

That migration has created a new kind of financial powerhouse.

Not banks, not brokers, but wealth managers.

Their job is to guide, advise and grow the fortunes of India’s affluent class.

Two firms stand out in this long-term shift: 360 One WAM and Nuvama Wealth Management.

1. 360 One WAM

360 One Wealth Asset Management (WAM), earlier known as IIFL Wealth, is India’s largest listed wealth and alternates management platform.

It oversees Rs 6.7 trillion of assets as of September 2025, up 28% year-on-year. Of this, recurring or Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) assets, the part that earns steady advisory and management fees, form Rs 2.95 trillion, up 22%.

For years, the firm catered mainly to India’s ultra-rich, including promoters, billionaires and family offices. But over the past two years, it has widened its reach. Through organic expansion and the UBS India acquisition, it now serves more than 8,500 families and corporates across wealth, lending and distribution.

In the September quarter (Q2 FY26), total revenue stood at Rs 813 crore, up 32 % year-on-year, while profit after tax rose to Rs 316 crore, up 27.7%.

Almost 73 % of operating revenue came from ARR, the most stable component of income.

That revenue comes from three main streams:

1. Advisory and management fees on the assets they manage — the largest and most stable source.
2. Transaction and brokerage income earned when clients buy or sell investments.
3. Performance or carry fees from alternate investment funds, which kick in when returns cross a hurdle rate.

Almost 70% of 360 One’s income is recurring. This means it keeps coming in as long as client assets stay.

What about costs? The biggest expense is people. This is your relationship managers, analysts and product specialists who manage client portfolios. Salaries and incentives account for the bulk of spending. The rest goes toward technology platforms, client events and compliance.

These costs explain why the cost-to-income ratio, or CIR, is such an important metric.

In Q2 FY26, CIR stood at 49.2 %, higher than a year ago as the firm absorbed integration costs from UBS and B&K Securities and continued investing in its digital arm, ET Money.

A lower number means higher efficiency — and management expects this ratio to improve gradually as scale builds and synergies kick in.

360 One manages Rs 921 billion across private equity, real assets and multi-asset funds, and saw healthy carry income from maturing vintages. Alternates bring higher yields and stronger client stickiness.

Beyond the ultra-rich, 360 One’s digital arm ET Money now targets mass-affluent investors, a market that could define its next decade. The challenge is scaling without losing the personal touch that wealth management demands.

Looking ahead, the company is guiding for strong asset momentum over the next two years, driven by steady client inflows, a growing share of recurring revenue and expanding alternate-investment products. It also expects its alternates business to scale faster as private credit and real assets gain traction among ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNI).

At roughly 42 times earnings, the stock is not cheap. It is trading at a premium to its 5 year median PE of 32.7 times.

2. Nuvama Wealth Management

While 360 One stands for scale, Nuvama Wealth Management is all about reinvention.

Born out of the Edelweiss Group and now majority-owned by Asia’s investment giant PAG (Pacific Alliance Group), Nuvama has rebuilt itself into a diversified financial platform blending wealth management, asset management, asset services and capital markets.

By March 2025, it managed US $50.4 billion (Rs 4.3 trillion) in client assets, up 24 % year-on-year. Revenue rose 41 % to US $339 million, while operating profit after tax jumped 65 % to US $115 million.

With a 31.5 % return on equity and cost-to-income ratio of 55 %, the business seems to have hit its stride.

In Private Wealth, which serves India’s ultra-rich, assets grew 17 % to US $23.3 billion. Annual recurring revenue (ARR), the portion that earns steady advisory fees, made up 56 % of segment income, roughly flat year-on-year.

ARR assets rose 33 % to US $5.2 billion, with net new recurring inflows of US $1.18 billion, up 52 %. The Wealth division, catering to the mass-affluent, added US $10.98 billion, up 20 %.

Simply put, more clients are now paying Nuvama steady fees rather than one-off commissions — a key marker of stability.

Its asset-management arm manages US $1.32 billion, 92 % fee-paying, while the asset-services business handles US $14.7 billion under custody and clearing, with revenue up 104 % in FY25. These less-glamorous verticals add dependable annuity income and client stickiness.

Just like 360 one WAM, Nuvama makes money through several channels:

• Advisory and distribution fees from its wealth business, which make up about two-thirds of revenue.
• Performance-linked fees from PMS (Portfolio Management Services) and AIF (Alternate Investment Funds) products.
• Custody and clearing income through its asset-services unit.
• Broking and investment-banking fees from its capital-markets arm.

In the Q1FY26, revenue rose 18% year-on-year to and PAT grew 19%.

Costs follow a similar pattern to 360 One. The CIR stands near 55% and is expected to fall as operating leverage improves.

Going forward, the company is guiding for 30% growth in its Wealth business and around 27% growth in Private Wealth in FY26. This will come from new client additions, a deeper relationship-manager base and higher wallet share from existing clients.

Over the next two years, it expects to maintain a 30% ROE while improving margins as recurring income grows faster than costs.

Backing from PAG, which manages over US$ 55 billion across Asia, adds an extra layer of strength. The partnership brings global expertise in private credit, real assets and governance, which should help Nuvama as India’s wealthy look to diversify beyond traditional investments.

Since its 2023 listing, Nuvama has built an independent board, automated risk management and strengthened compliance. For a trust-based advisory business, that foundation is invaluable.

Some cyclicality remains through its broking and investment-banking arms, but the revenue mix is steadily shifting toward recurring income. At about 26 times earnings, the stock trades cheaper than 360 One despite similar profitability.

Why this boom is built to last

The wealth boom is not just about a rising stock market. It is structural and likely to last decades.

• Savings shift: India’s mutual-fund assets under management equal only 20% of gross domestic product (GDP), far below developed markets where the figure exceeds 100%. Yet the industry has tripled in size in five years.
• Digital rails: Platforms such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar and account aggregators have made investing seamless.
• Young investors: A new generation prefers professional, data-driven advice.
• Regulation: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened commission norms, pushing the industry toward fee-based, advisory-led models.

These trends favour firms that earn steady advisory fees rather than rely on market trading volumes.

Opportunities and risks

Together, 360 One and Nuvama manage nearly Rs 11 trillion, less than 2% of India’s household wealth. Even a modest shift from real estate or deposits into financial assets can expand their market manyfold.

The biggest risk is talent. Relationship managers hold the key. Attrition at senior levels can lead to assets walking out the door. For both firms, managing costs while investing in talent and technology will determine how sustainably they scale.

And, there is a new twist as well. SEBI’s recent consultation paper has rattled capital-market stocks. The regulator has proposed capping brokerage at 2 basis points in cash markets and 1 basis point in derivatives, alongside a cut in total-expense-ratio (TER) slabs for mutual funds. It also aims to exclude taxes and transaction costs from TER to make investing cheaper and more transparent.

The proposal, when announced, led to a 5–10% drop in shares of wealth and asset-management firms, including 360 One WAM and Nuvama.

Lower brokerage and fee caps could compress margins and slow short-term revenue growth, especially in distribution-linked businesses.

Yet, in the long run, these changes may favour large, advisory-led platforms with scale and a higher share of recurring income.

Valuations are not cheap, but these are long-duration businesses with deep structural tailwinds.

Investor takeaway

If the 2000s belonged to lenders and the 2010s to insurers, the 2020s could well belong to wealth managers.

As India’s investible surplus expands, the focus is shifting from earning wealth to managing it better.
360 One WAM offers size, stability and rising exposure to alternates, making it a steady compounding play.
Nuvama Wealth brings diversity, global backing and faster earnings growth.

Nuvama’s numbers may look stronger, but the market still values 360 One higher. Investors prefer the comfort of a pure-play wealth manager with predictable cash flows to a newly rebranded firm still shedding its broking legacy. Over time, if Nuvama’s earnings prove as steady as they appear, that valuation gap may be hard to defend.

Both firms are well placed to ride India’s Rs 600-trillion wealth boom and offer investors a front-row seat to the next big financial story.

Note: We have relied on data from www.Screener.in throughout this article. Only in cases where the data was not available, have we used an alternate, but widely used and accepted source of information. 

The purpose of this article is only to share interesting charts, data points and thought-provoking opinions. It is NOT a recommendation. If you wish to consider an investment, you are strongly advised to consult your advisor. This article is strictly for educative purposes only. 

Manvi Aggarwal has been tracking the stock markets for nearly two decades. She spent about eight years as a financial analyst at a value-style fund, managing money for international investors. That’s where she honed her expertise in deep-dive research, looking beyond the obvious to spot value where others didn’t. Now, she brings that same sharp eye to uncovering overlooked and misunderstood investment opportunities in Indian equities. As a columnist for LiveMint and Equitymaster, she breaks down complex financial trends into actionable insights for investors.

Disclosure: The writer and his dependents do not hold the stocks discussed in this article. The website managers, its employee(s) and contributors/writers/authors of articles have or may have an outstanding buy or sell position or holding in the securities, options on securities or other related investments of issuers and/or companies discussed therein.  The content of the articles and the interpretation of data are solely the personal views of the contributors/ writers/authors.  Investors must make their own investment decisions based on their specific objectives, resources and only after consulting such independent advisors as may be necessary.