Axis Bank To Hire 50 Private Bankers To Target Wealth Boom In India

Axis Bank Ltd. is hiring 50 bankers and plans to launch several funds in India's low-tax finance hub, As part of a move to ramp up its private banking arm amid a surge in high-net-worth individuals.

"We have now expanded to 52 cities from 30 last year to tap into the growing wealth in tier 2 cities and beyond," said Mumbai-based Arnika Dixit, who heads wealth management and the affluent banking unit at the country's third-largest private sector bank.

The firm is expanding its team of bankers across locations to cater to the growing needs of high-net-worth individuals and ultra-high net-worth individual clients, Dixit told Bloomberg News in an interview last week.

Axis Bank is recruiting the senior money managers for its private banking division called 'Burgundy Private', which has 250 bankers, according to its latest annual report. The bank's move aligns with an industry-wide hiring spree, as global players such as HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, along with domestic firms, including Indian billionaire Uday Kotak's private bank and 360 One WAM Ltd., expanding to capture a booming client base.

India's wealth management industry is projected to double its assets to $2.3 trillion by March 2029, from $1.1 trillion in March 2024. Tens of thousands of new millionaires are being created in the country each year, fuelled by record-setting initial public offerings, private equity and venture-capital investments, and a strong equity market.

The rapid rise in rich clients has intensified competition among wealth managers, triggering aggressive hirings with sign-on bonuses, high commissions, and other incentives. However, banks remain constrained by regulations that limit the use of special compensation structures.

Still, Dixit said Axis Bank's strength lies is its ability to provide a gamut of services, including wealth management, banking, asset management, investment banking and capital markets.

Axis Bank managed 6.45 trillion rupees ($71.4 billion) worth of wealth assets under the Burgundy brand as of September. Of this, around Rs 2.5 trillion overseen by Burgundy Private, caters to 15,250 ultra-high-net-worth clients, each with at least Rs 50 million in investible assets.

The bank also plans to launch multiple funds in early 2026 from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City. It is looking to offer in-bound funds for non-resident Indian and wealthy clients through feeder and direct funds into India's capital markets, in addition to outbound funds that invest in global equity markets and dollar-denominated structured products.

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