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PROFILE
6 INDIAN WEALTH MANAGEMENT - ISSUE 2, 2017
Banking on India’s trust to create
a wealth edge
It is the near-blind faith that Indians all over the country have in State Bank of
India (SBI) that gives Nimish Shah reason for optimism in delivering on plans to
grow the state-run institution’s recently-launched wealth management business.
vie for the growing amount of wealth
held by individuals across the country.
The key to the plan to benefit from
peoples’ trust, lies hidden in numbers.
India has a population of 1.3 billion
NIMISH SHAH
State Bank of India
advises about 10,000 Indians with an
average wealth of the equivalent of
USD110,000, the bank has over 200,000
It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say
that SBI is an institution that the vast
majority of Indians would trust with
their eyes closed. It owes its origin
to the Bank of Calcutta, founded in
1806 in British India. And the name
“We have a lot of scope and ready infrastructure, in terms
of resident Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs). Both
groups represent huge opportunities available to us.”
itself conjures up the image of a
monolith that’s backed by the full
force of the government.
Yet so far, the institution has failed to
capitalise on the head-start it’s had over
prettymuch all other banks, which today
people and is witnessing a growing crop
of affluent individuals. The bank has
woken up to the potential of tapping
the wealthy, both at home and abroad.
SBI’s wealth management division is
small in comparison; while it currently