Vivek Sharma, head of the international clients group at Nuvama Group, speaks to Jenna Lomax about the company’s rebrand and the current trends in the Indian asset servicing space
Vivek Sharma of Nuvama Group has almost two decades of experience in the wealth management, asset management and securities services industry, having served at global multi-corporations such as Citi and ING. It is, however, at India’s Nuvama Group (formerly Edelweiss Wealth Management), where Sharma has spent the majority of his career. Best-placed to inform the reader on the company’s rebrand, Sharma also details why India’s economic outlook looks promising and why the region is fast becoming more attractive as an investment destination.
Sharma cites the ‘Economic Survey 2022 – 2023’, which indicates that India’s GDP is expected to grow in the range of 5.8 per cent to 6.3 per cent from 2023 to 2024. This is based on “a confluence of factors,” he affirms, including “a stable political environment over the last decade, as well as positive macroeconomic attributes and strong policy reforms which have made India more attractive as an investment destination for institutions.”
Nuvama Group is one of the largest and fastest growing India-focused wealth, asset and capital markets firms. The company is backed by the parentage of the Edelweiss Group and has a global partnership with PAG, an Asia-based investment firm. The business serves close to a million customers, comprising a diversified set of family offices, institutional clients and corporates.
Sharma says: “The integrated platform encompasses wealth solutions, asset management, institutional securities and capital market advisory. The name ‘Nuvama’ has been derived by bringing the worlds of new and wealth together.
The proof of success goes further than just a name, as Nuvama Group’s achievements earned the company ‘Single Market Custodian of the Year 2022 – India’ at Asset Servicing Times’ second Industry Excellence Awards.
Sharma puts the award win down to Nuvama Group’s “experience and expertise, leading research and product innovation — all supported by a robust governance framework.”
Welcome to India
A number of foreign investors have been invested in India for some years, while some have stayed away from allocating to the country.
When asked why the region is fast becoming an investment destination for so many institutions, Sharma says: “The private sector balance sheet has improved over the past few years.
“This implies that the private sector is bound to increase spending, which can boost capex, as and when the investment cycle picks up.
“Corporate deleveraging has improved banks’ balance sheets. In addition, high goods and services tax, as well as direct tax collections, have boosted the government’s capacity to cushion the impact of the impending global slowdown — ensuring that the Indian economy remains vibrant.
“Strong growth in the retail industry and improved profit performance of consumer staples, as well as discretionary companies in recent quarters, also indicates healthy consumer demand.”
Indian stock markets witnessed a resilient performance, with the blue-chip index Nifty 50 registering a return of 3.7 per cent between April and December 2022, according to the ‘Economic Survey 2022 – 2023’.
Commenting on this statistic, Sharma says: “A positive return was achieved, despite the decline in global stock markets due to geopolitical uncertainties and supply chain disruptions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Among other major emerging market economies, India outperformed its peers across the same time period. Prime Minister Modi is determined to make India a US $5 trillion economy by 2025. The government has focused on ‘pro-business policies’ to reach this milestone.”
Asset servicing
Just like the rest of the world, India has been contemplating the move from T+2 to T+1. However, unlike much of the rest of the world, India has already taken action, completing the move in January 2023.
“The new format bodes well for the Indian equity markets from a liquidity perspective,” says Sharma. “It highlights how much India has grown on the digital journey to ensure seamless settlements within 24 hours.”
Before setting up custody and clearing operations in India, prospective investors should “have the right custodian, clearing provider, broking execution, technology provider and tax advisor,” says Sharma.
Nuvama Asset Services (formerly Edelweiss Asset Services) is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a designated depository participant (DDP) and custodian of securities. It also provides foreign portfolio investors (FPI) with registration, custodial and clearing services in India’s capital market.
“From a regulatory standpoint, there have been remarkable changes to make access to India simpler and faster for FPIs,” Sharma explains. “Global investors need an FPI registration to invest directly in the capital markets.
“To set up FPI registration, choosing the right DDP and custodian is very important. The industry standard is a three- to six-month wait. However, as a single market-focused custodian we are committed to completing a clients’ FPI account set-up in 30 to 45 days.”
He continues: “Single market-focused custodians, such as us, can offer this value proposition because we have a large team focused on a single market and are able to adapt policies and practices to provide the best outcome for clients. We have streamlined internal processes to ensure clients can start investing as soon as possible. In a fast-moving market such as India, where investment opportunities can come and go very quickly, clients find this speed-to-market very valuable.”
The market regulator (SEBI) has also recently allowed FPIs to participate in commodity derivatives in India. “We believe this will further encourage global managers to look at enabling India access for themselves,” Sharma says.
In its recent board meeting, SEBI has approved the proposal to permit DDPs to grant FPI registrations to applicants who have submitted scanned copies of application forms and supporting documents. DDPs are now allowed to accept digital signatures by FPIs.
“These measures will further ease the onboarding process for FPIs looking to set up India access,” Sharma says.
Looking to the future
Outlining where Nuvama Group slots into the India asset servicing landscape, Sharma highlights: “Our offerings and expertise in the Indian market have evolved over time.
“Nuvama Asset Services has created a dominant market share in the local India custody space,” says Sharma. “The business is supported by specialists across sales coverage, client servicing, technology, risk and compliance functions, thereby enabling support and guidance to all new managers looking to enter India.”
He adds: “As we are present in major financial centers in the world, we can provide technical and timely advice to global investors on India tax, legal, regulatory, audit and trading infrastructure requirements. All in all, our single market-focused approach has really helped us to sharpen our offerings to suit the evolving and growing India-specific needs of our global clients.”
