As Indian wealth becomes increasingly global and intergenerational, the demand for sophisticated structuring has reached new levels. Shweta Shah, Head of Wealth Structuring & Estate Planning at Nuvama Private, has had a front-row seat to these shifts. In a wide-ranging conversation with Hubbis, she explored the regulatory, emotional, and practical complexities facing Indian families today – and the role Nuvama is playing as a one-stop platform for wealth continuity, governance, and cross-border enablement.

Overseas direct investment (ODI) isn’t just about outbound capital, it’s about inbound value. Indian entrepreneurs acquiring assets overseas aren’t exiting; they’re importing technology, accessing markets, and future-proofing domestic operations.

NRIs are increasingly viewing India as a strategic long-term investment hub, driven by strong economic fundamentals, favourable demographics, and digital transformation.

According to the 2024 Knight Frank Wealth Report, over 65% of NRIs surveyed see India as a priority market for wealth allocation over the next decade. Key reasons include:

Over the decades, one truth has remained constant in finance: the best outcomes emerge from consistent, thoughtful progress. While the core of private wealth management continues to rest on human insight and trust, the tools delivering this value are evolving at a rapid pace. Among these, digital transformation stands out as a powerful force for betterment, bringing greater intelligence, speed, and precision to every client interaction.

As Head of the International Business at Nuvama, Vivek Sharma is driving a pivotal chapter in the firm’s international expansion - bridging the needs of India’s globally dispersed wealthy with a cross-border platform that is fitfor-purpose, robust, and regulatory-compliant, while also opening the door wider to global investors seeking structured access to India’s fast-growing asset markets. In a recent interview with Hubbis, Sharma outlined how this strategy is being implemented through a phased rollout across major financial hubs - beginning in 2024 with Dubai and extending it to Singapore in 2025. Presence in these two locations, will enable Nuvama to cover both middle east and Asia as key hubs for the offshore business.

Debt allocation in a UHNI client portfolio can be broadly classified as ‘High Grade’ and ‘High Yield’. This allocation is deployed via bonds, NCDs, mutual funds, REITs/InvITs and AIFs. Mutual fund allocation is generally classified as ‘High Grade’ as typical debt funds being looked by UHNI clients are money market funds for short term allocation, corporate bond fund for medium term allocation and select Gilt funds for long term duration. For temporary parking, overnight, liquid and arbitrage funds continue to be preferred choices. It may be worthwhile to note that overall flows to debt mutual funds have moderated over last 2 quarters post changes in taxation for such funds.