The panel discussion was on ‘Global or Local? The New Allocation Reality’. Lakshmi Iyer, Group President, Investments, MD & CEO, Bajaj Alternate Investment Management Limited, Rahul Jain, President & Head, Nuvama Wealth, Devina Mehra, Founder & CMD, First Global and Sid Swaminathan, MD & CEO, JioBlackRock Asset Management Company, took part in the discussion that was moderated by Kshitij Anand, Editor-Markets & Finance, ET Digital.
The craving for variety is real
Lakshmi Iyer framed the shift with a simple but powerful observation: “Investors crave variety, whether it is for their taste palate or whether it is for their portfolio palate.”
That craving is translating into action. Conversations about alternate investments, once peripheral to mainstream wealth management, are now front and centre with HNI clients. And crucially, Iyer argues this isn’t a trend. It’s a structural shift.
“Is it here to stay? The answer is yes. Are conversations getting deeper? Again, the answer is yes,” she said.
Alternates are outpacing mutual funds
The numbers back her up. The AIF (Alternative Investment Fund) industry is currently growing at more than double the pace of the mutual fund industry, and Iyer projects this trajectory to hold for the next five years.
The reason is access. AIFs now offer investors entry points into virtually every asset class they might want — private equity, private credit, real estate debt, infrastructure, and more. Iyer described it as “the one-stop shop for your solutions,” capable of delivering both bespoke, high-touch strategies and standardised, accessible products depending on what the investor needs.
Real estate: The classic made flexible
One asset class getting particular attention is real estate, long a favourite among Indian investors, but historically difficult to access beyond direct property ownership.
That’s changing. Investors can now participate in real estate through equity structures, debt instruments via sector funds and private credit funds, or through alternates that allow them to choose their preferred size and structure. The result is a far more flexible entry point into an asset class Indians have always loved — without the liquidity constraints of physical property.
Private credit: Promising, but proceed with caution
The panel’s most nuanced discussion centred on private credit — a category generating significant global buzz and growing domestic interest.
Iyer was enthusiastic about its fundamental role: channelling credit to the real economy and diversifying funding away from an over-reliance on banks. But she was equally pointed about the risks of irrational exuberance.
Drawing a sharp parallel to the late-stage growth fund frenzy of 2021, when FOMO drove investors into overpriced deals, she warned that excess demand chasing too few quality credits leads to mispricing. The lesson from global markets, where private credit has faced its own stress, should inform Indian investors without being directly extrapolated.
Her framework for navigating it: BARP (Buy At a Reasonable Price). “We are not BAAP (Buy At Any Price) — whether it is for equity or for credit, the same norm holds good.”
The takeaway for Indian Investors
India’s alternate investment landscape is maturing fast, and for good reason. The infrastructure now exists to build genuinely diversified portfolios, across asset classes, risk profiles, and geographies — in ways that weren’t possible even five years ago.
But as Iyer’s private credit caution illustrates, access and discipline must go together. The opportunity is real. So is the risk of chasing it without a framework.
For India’s HNIs, the message from the Summit is clear: variety is available. The question is whether investors can resist recency bias long enough to use it wisely.