One of the earliest online investment platforms in India, iFast Financial India Ltd, has signed an MoU to sell its India advisory business. iFast India was part of the Singapore-based iFAST Financial. While it sold its mutual fund distribution business to Prudent Corporate Advisory, its Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) and Persons Associated with Investment Advice (PAIA) got acquired by Asit C Mehta Financial Services, a well-known and one of India’s oldest portfolio managers. Consolidation has begun in the distribution and advisory space. In February 2020, Mumbai-based mutual fund distributors Roopa Venkatakrishnan and Dhruv Mehta merged their practices with Sapient Wealth, a large Pune-based wealth advisor. Last month, Moneycontrol reported that Bengaluru-based Scripbox, one of India’s largest wealth managers, entered into a strategic partnership with Wealth Managers (India), a Pune-based wealth management firm. That was Scripbox’s 10th acquisition of an independent financial advisor (IFA) or an RIA over the past year and a half. Its first acquisition came in December 2020, when it acquired Bengaluru-based Mitraz Financial, a boutique RIA firm. Experts say that more such mergers and acquisitions in the digital space will happen over the next few years. While many in the financial products’ distribution space were expecting robo-advisors to disrupt the market, Covid-19 turned out to be the real disruptor. Those advisors who adopted technology were able to reach newer customers across the country, without requiring a physical presence. Investors, on the other hand, also adapted to technology to invest, amongst many things. Even veteran advisors, who’ve enjoyed a loyal customer base, have realised that investors have grown more finicky. A physical meeting to deliver the forms might be too late, and the customer might just change her mind. Technology enables prompt execution, as soon as the advice is delivered.
