Wealth manager lures India bankers with 60% revenue sharing

A $6 billion Indian money manager plans to ramp up hiring of senior bankers by allowing them to keep up to 60% of the revenue they bring in, showing how competition for talent is heating up in one of the world’s fastest growing wealth markets.

Neo Group, founded by Nitin Jain in Mumbai in 2021, is looking to hire up to 70 wealth managers by March 2026, people familiar with the matter said. That would more than double the headcount of bankers at the firm, which managed Rs 55,000 crore ($6.5 billion) of assets across wealth and asset management as of March 2025. The people asked not to be identified as the hiring plan is not public.

The move by the firm adds to a private banker hiring spree in recent years and come as larger rivals from billionaire Uday Kotak’s private bank and Standard Chartered Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc are also expanding.

A differentiated incentive and payment structure has helped Neo hire bankers and fund managers from buyout firms and private credit firms. It operates a partnership model under which bankers can keep as much as 50% to 60% of revenue from clients, who pay advisory fee on a monthly basis, said the people.

Typically, local wealth firms have a much lower revenue share arrangement but pay relatively higher salaries to bankers and relationship managers. Neo’s strategy shows the pressure newer entrants face to scale up and acquire more assets under management.

Neo did not respond to an email from Bloomberg News seeking comment.

The upstart firm, backed by venture capital investor Peak XV and a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., has risen up the ranks of mid-sized money managers in quick pace. Competing with the likes of Blackstone-backed ASK Investment Managers’ wealth unit, Neo added about 40 senior bankers in the last few years.

Separately, Neo is set to name former 360 One WAM Ltd. executive Shajikumar Devakar as its new chief executive for the wealth unit next week, said the people familiar with the matter. Devakar will take over from Varun Bajpai, who will oversee Neo’s technology, operations and client relations.