India's top wealth managers have started looking beyond bets on listed companies to investing models that, in addition to stocks, invest in mutual funds, bonds, and commodities.
In doing so, not only are they spreading out risk and limiting downside on returns, they are also responding to reluctance among investors to pay just for advice on which funds to buy or sell in a falling market.
The so-called multi-asset model has seen steady traction in recent years, according to industry insiders. While data at the industry-wide level is not available, Mint interviewed senior executives at large wealth management companies and portfolio management services, or PMS, firms and analyzed their portfolios to capture the trend.
Some quick background: a wealth manager, typically, earns revenue in two ways. Under the distribution model, it sells financial products and earns commissions or trail fees from an asset management company, nothing from the client. Under the advisory model, it gives independent advice and bills the client.
As markets shed value rapidly and returns dry up, there is waning appetite among investors for advisory-led models and more demand for a multi-asset structure comprising mutual funds, bonds, and commodities. Most PMS firms have stocks as their underlying assets.
"Over the past three–four years, some clients have gravitated towards direct plans due to cost considerations. However, their need for proper fund advisory has led to wealth managers offering structured, fund-of-funds-like portfolios, especially for large clients with ₹25-40 crore portfolio,” said Jayesh Faria, director, regional head, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth.
At 360 ONE Wealth Management, the biggest listed wealth management company in India, fund assets under multi-asset strategy grew 2.1x to ₹62,212 crore between FY23 and FY25.
Dezerv Investments, the largest PMS with a 100% multi-asset structure, increased its number of clients to 5,589 in December 2025 from 975 two years before with assets surging fourfold to ₹11,244 crore over the same period, according to data from the Association of Portfolio Managers in India (APMI). Similarly, Brainpoint Investment Centre saw its client base rise from 756 to 850, with assets growing 1.3x to ₹7,004 crore.
The trend for multi-asset PMS structures is also driven by increasing investor sophistication, said Himadri Chatterjee, co-business head at 360 ONE Wealth, India's largest listed wealth management company.
"Among ultra HNIs, especially those with portfolios above ₹100 crore, there is a strong preference for structured portfolio management as managing large assets in an ad hoc manner becomes impractical,” said Chatterjee.
The advisory model has struggled to gain traction in India due to higher compliance requirements, often accounting for 15% to 20% of costs and client reluctance to pay out-of-pocket fees.
As of March 2025, there were only 931 investment advisors, according to data from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. In contrast, there are some 178,000 mutual fund distributors in the country.
With guidelines for registered investment advisers (RIA) becoming more stringent and fee caps coming into play, the PMS route where underlying assets are mutual funds, bonds, and commodities, has emerged as a more scalable alternative, said Feroze Azeez, Joint CEO at Anand Rathi Wealth. It provides greater flexibility in terms of fee structures and allows firms to operate within a broader commercial framework, he added.
“The RIA model separates advice from execution. The advisor recommends, but the client decides whether and when to act. If markets move in real time, but if the client is busy or traveling, opportunities slip,” said Vaibhav Porwal, co-founder, Dezerv, a PMS firm which offers a multi-asset model. “Discretionary PMS instead of pure advisory model eliminates this entirely where the rebalancing or exiting a position can be done immediately.”
In discretionary PMS, all the investment calls are taken by the fund manager without seeking prior approval from the investor. In non-discretionary PMS, even though the fund manager takes the calls, the end decision rests with the client.
In the multi-asset PMS model, however, wealth managers build portfolios using mutual funds, bonds, and commodity exposure through gold and silver index funds. This allows investors to enter and exit specific funds more easily.
Stock market rules mandate the minimum investment in PMS structures is ₹50 lakh but the larger wealth firms usually cater to clients with much higher ticket sizes with fees being either fixed or based on performance. In addition, investors also bear the expense ratio-related costs of the mutual funds.
“Typically the overall fees—including the fixed fees and expense ratios of the underlying mutual funds—is controlled in these offerings so that client benefits from advisory while not overpaying compared to regular plans of the funds.” said Motilal Oswal's Faria.
The overall PMS assets under management has grown 1.3 times to ₹5.72 trillion between January 2024 and Janauary 2026, according to APMI. This doesn't include the assets managed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation.
Srushti is a markets reporter at Mint. She writes on equity markets, and her areas of coverage range from brokers and exchanges to mutual funds and the fast-evolving alternatives space, including GIFT City, from the financial capital of India. She has an experience of over three years in journalism, and has previously worked at Moneycontrol. She has an undergraduate degree in mass communication and a postgraduate diploma in business and financial journalism from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.<br><br>Srushti prefers meeting people from the industry over making calls. Her work aims to drive impact—her story on illegal gold imports, for instance, caught the government’s attention and contributed to a policy shift. She specialises in turning complex market data into clear, engaging stories so even her grandmother could understand futures and options.<br><br>Outside of the newsroom, she enjoys spending money on jewellery and watching thriller films—especially the kind that keep her awake at night. She spends 1.5 hours a day commuting in Mumbai locals, listening to horror podcasts on her way to work. She’s also very talkative—so reach out only if you have lots of time.