Nerine Group of Fiduciaries Executive Chairman, Keith Corbin, and Nerine’s India office managing director, Pranav Khanna (pictured), attended the international India Wealth Forum in Delhi recently to present on wealth management structuring to an audience of bankers, advisers, accountants and fiduciaries interested in the emerging market.
Nerine, which is the only independent trust company with an office in India, has been working in the India market for more than five years and Corbin was invited to speak at the event on using domestic trust structures – a concept that is relatively new in India.
Organised by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the forum was designed to expose wealthy private clients and families in India to a range of products and services available to them.
Corbin and Khanna outlined Indian succession laws, wills and intestacy, trust options, tax implications and how offshore structures may also be utilised by Indian clients.
The initiative by STEP is indicative of the focus now falling on succession and wealth planning in India.
Corbin says: “There are few people unaware of the growing economy in India. Indeed some commentators believe it will outstrip China’s growth by 2015 and certainly those in the know are tipping a GDP of GBP6 trillion. Many see the potential of the region across all business sectors and those offering financial services are no exception but few have the depth and breadth of knowledge to embrace this market with expertise.
“There have been a number of high profile cases in India where sufficient succession planning has not been in place and families have had significant problems. We wanted to demonstrate how trusts and other structures can assist the growing wealth in India particularly as the second generation of some of the wealthy families are looking at wealth preservation and growth in a different way to their forefathers.”
Khanna says: “The Wealth Forum India reinforced our view that the vast majority of business in India, some 95%, is controlled by family-owned businesses. There are opportunities here for solid fiduciaries with a real understanding of the market and one of Nerine’s aims is to continue to educate these families on what is available to them.”
