India Conglomerate Bajaj's Investment Arm Hires CIO From Kotak
Industry veteran Jitendra Gohil will join Bajaj next week and lead an initiative to create an alternative investment fund.
The alternative investment management arm of the Bajaj Group, one of India’s oldest conglomerates, hired a chief investment officer from Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Ltd, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring an intensifying talent battle in the $169 billion asset management industry.
Industry veteran Jitendra Gohil will join Bajaj next week and lead an initiative to create an alternative investment fund, said the people who requested not to be identified because the information is private.
India’s alternative asset industry has been a hotbed of activity with funds seeking to tap limited talent pools. The funds — which mostly refer to those that pool money from wealthy individuals in the country and are often operated by conglomerates — have a committed capital of 15 trillion rupees ($169 billion), according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Bajaj Alternate Investment Management Ltd. and Kotak didn’t reply to Bloomberg’s e-mailed queries. Gohil worked at Credit Suisse Group AG in India for nearly 14 years before he joined Kotak as chief investment strategist, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In October last year, the capital markets regulator tightened due-diligence rules for alternative funds, which often pool money from wealthy individuals, after finding some were being used to skirt investment restrictions.
Gohil will report to Lakshmi Iyer, who is the group president for investments at Bajaj Alternate Investment, said the people. The operation earlier planned to hire as much as 20 investment professionals and senior leaders after Iyer took charge of the business.
