Being the largest lender in the country, State Bank of India (SBI) is all set to give its wealth management business a renewed push considering the surge in the number of affluent individuals in the country.
Renewed Push To Wealth Management Business
It appears that the SBI is deploying about 2,000 executives as relationship managers, focusing on partnerships with smaller companies nationwide, announced the Chairman Dinesh Khara during the earnings call.
Interestingly, the timing of this move comes as SBI aims to improve its approach to the wealth management sector.
Khara said that SBI’s wealth management unit is considered “old.”
Adding, “We manufacture all the products in the financial sector and have the largest distribution network. We should be in a position to reach out to the customers.”
Further, he declined to disclose the bank’s current assets under management.
In the case of SBI, the bank operates over 22,500 branches across India, entering a competitive field of global and domestic players targeting India’s growing wealth.
Increased Activity In Wealth Management Market
India generated approximately $590 billion in new financial wealth in 2023, marking its largest historical increase, as revealed by a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group.
Moving ahead, SBI will further face competition from global entities such as HSBC Holdings Plc and Barclays Plc, as well as local firms like 360 One WAM Ltd in its expansion efforts.
Besides this, there is an increased activity witnessed in the wealth management market in India from private lenders, including ICICI Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd.
In one such initiative, ICICI Bank, the second largest lender in India is preparing to cater to self-employed individuals.
Hence, expanding its private banking and wealth management services, further engaging with family offices to enhance its deposit base.
The Managing Director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange, Ashishkumar Chauhan expressed optimism that India’s wealth is poised to grow significantly in the next 50 years by 1,000%, attributing this growth to the youthful demographic and technological progress, In a statement made in June.
When it comes to the profit, SBI reported a standalone net profit of Rs 17,035 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, representing a 0.9% increase over the Rs 16,884.29 crore reported in the same period the previous year.
We can clearly see that the figure exceeded the estimated Rs 16,786 crore by analysts.
In addition to this, the bank’s net interest income (NII) for Q1FY25 was Rs 41,125 crore, a 5.71% rise from Rs 38,905 crore in Q1FY24.
