Standard Chartered taps GIFT City to help wealthy Indians diversify overseas

Mumbai: British bank Standard Chartered has begun offering its Signature CIO Funds to affluent Indians through GIFT City, betting that rising wealth at home will fuel demand for offshore diversification.

The launch follows an August approval from the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), GIFT City’s regulator, allowing the bank to distribute the funds to resident Indians. Launched four years ago, the funds manage $5 billion in assets across 13 markets.

“A lot of customers, when they originate wealth in their home country, want to look at investments offshore just to be able to diversify their portfolio,” said Samir Subberwal, global head of wealth solutions, retail products and analytics at Standard Chartered, in an interview.

The growing number of affluent Indians has intensified competition among wealth managers, with banks and non-bank financial institutions expanding their offerings to tap the opportunity. According to Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2026, India’s billionaire population is projected to grow 51% to 313 by 2031, from 207 in 2026, making it one of the fastest-growing billionaire hubs globally.

The country’s ultra-high-net-worth population, comprising individuals with wealth exceeding $30 million, grew 63% between 2021 and 2026 to nearly 20,000.

“So we enable customers to open a cross-border relationship and offer products that they might not otherwise be able to access onshore in their market,” Subberwal said.

Offshore investments
Standard Chartered’s investment view is that 15% of a client’s assets should ideally be allocated to offshore investments, Subberwal said. For Indian residents, however, such investments will be subject to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which permits individuals to remit up to $250,000 a year overseas.

Outward remittances under the LRS stood at $28.97 billion, of which 9% went towards investments in equity and debt, according to the central bank data.

GIFT City, a special economic jurisdiction, currently hosts 41 banks, 235 funds, 37 insurance offices and 33 insurance intermediary offices, besides law firms and advisory services. Standard Chartered was the first foreign bank to begin operations in GIFT City in 2020. Before expanding into wealth services, it catered to corporate and institutional clients.

“There’s a lot of wealth being created in Asia, and we are in all the markets. China has obviously been creating wealth for the last two-three decades, while India started to create wealth as well over the last, let’s say, a few years, most certainly closer to a decade,” Subberwal said.

For Indian residents, the shift towards offshore investments is likely to be gradual, he said. “So, it’s not like suddenly clients will send all of their wealth offshore to be invested only in global offshore assets.”

Rival lender HSBC also offers distribution of capital market products and services from the Gift City.

A weaker rupee, coupled with tepid returns in domestic markets, has added to the interest in overseas investments.

Subberwal, who has spent more than three decades at Standard Chartered, said Indian clients were increasingly looking to diversify their holdings, creating an opportunity for the bank’s GIFT City wealth business.

“We can’t proactively go and talk to customers in India and therefore use reverse inquiry, like in China. In markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, you can openly offer offshore products to customers,” he said.

Reverse enquiry is a process under which financial products are offered when requested by customers. Subberwal added that the Signature CIO Funds in India have been developed in partnership with Amundi Asset Management and SBI Funds International (IFSC), and will invest across global equities, bonds, commodities, liquid alternatives and cash.

Standard Chartered’s wealth solutions business has a chief investment office comprising equity, fixed-income and foreign-exchange analysts, as well as chief investment officers for equities, rates and forex, Subberwal said. The team conducts research and makes asset-allocation recommendations across asset classes and sectors, with a tactical or opportunistic allocation to capture investment opportunities.

The bank’s wealth management business operates under its wealth solutions vertical, which reported operating income of $3.1 billion in 2025, compared with $2.5 billion in the previous year. Growth was driven by an increase in affluent customer acquisition, with the bank onboarding 275,000 new affluent clients during the year and generating $52 billion in affluent net new money.

Shayan leads the coverage for banking and finance in Mint. Based in Mumbai, he has spent 15 years as a journalist, joining the Mint team in 2018. Over the years, he has tracked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), commercial banks, and the complex world of shadow banking.<br><br>His expertise goes beyond just reporting news, and he specializes in explaining the "why" behind India’s financial shifts. Shayan has covered major milestones in the industry, including the rollout of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), mergers in the banking and non-banking space, and the many challenges facing the country's credit markets. He has tracked cases of wrongdoings at India’s private sector banks and murky boardroom battles, trying to get behind the scenes.<br><br>Shayan is driven by a commitment to accuracy and clear, honest reporting. He believes in making finance easy to understand, ensuring his readers and investors stay informed about the forces shaping their money. When not at work, he tries to hone his amateurish photography skills, read fiction, and listen to music. You can follow his work and updates on LinkedIn and Twitter/X.

Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

✕

Wait for it…

Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.