Dhruv Rajani highlights his venture Imperial Wealth Services and the financial products offered by them
Dhruv Rajani, the brainchild behind Imperial Wealth Services, did his schooling at Sharada Mandir School, Miramar and went
on to complete his higher secondary education from Dempo College of Commerce and Economics.
Dhruv earned his bachelor’s degree in Management Studies from Wilson’s College in Mumbai. In his final year, he decided to pursue a career in Finance and earned a master’s degree in Finance from the University of Reading, UK. Post his master’s program, he began working with Elara Capital in London as a trader in Indian equities. Once Dhruv came back to Goa, he set up Imperial Wealth Services in the heart of the capital city of Panaji.
Dhruv says that he began trading and investing in the stock market in the first year of his bachelor’s program when in Mumbai. “I along with a group of my friends used to track the stock markets. Mumbai gave us that opportunity to do so and most of our conversations revolved around companies that were doing well and stocks to invest in or not. We began exchanging ideas and would buy stocks at the beginning of the week and sell them at the end of each week. We gradually moved into serious investing which strengthened my interest in finance and made me think about managing my own family wealth.”
Although Dhruv’s family business is in the field of mining and being the fourth generation in the business, he chose to venture into a different field. Once Dhruv came back from UK, he saw the opportunity to open a financial services firm, “I found out that there was a lack of a proper financial advisory services in Goa. Most of the banks were doing it back then, but when it came to dispensing the right kind of financial advice, or offering the right product to their customers, along with the continued service thereafter they were falling short. I saw it as an opportunity and took it up, which led me to starting Imperial Wealth Services.”
IWS is involved in the distribution of mutual funds, alternative investment funds (AIF), portfolio management services (PMS), offshore funds, private equity, startup investments as well as insurance. “We have a separate family office where we manage our own wealth by investing across all asset classes and geographical locations.”
“We began with a few clients initially whose finances we managed to streamline by understanding their needs and offering a more goal-based sort of approach. We currently service over 1000 individual clients, both in India and abroad. Our success and growth has been because of our understanding of the client’s needs which has led them to achieve their long-term financial goals, success and security.”
Dhruv describes his team at IWS as a focused and efficient one. “My brother Harsh assists us and has set up a different branch where we handle our family business firm. Anish Albuquerque our CFO has been with us since we started seven years ago. We have a branch office in Mumbai, which handles over 100 clients.”
“Our line of work can be quite daunting. There is a lot of liquidity in the market currently, thus advising on where to invest at this current juncture becomes a challenge. The main issue that one faces is how to deal with volatility and risk in the market. Hedging risks is something that we always look at and we advise against deploying money in one go. There are certain products like asset allocation products, which takes care of the volatility. This has worked well for us.” Actively managing portfolios of their clients has also been a successful financial strategy adopted by IWS.
Although his family business is in the field of mining and being the fourth generation in the business, Dhruv Rajani chose to venture into a different field. Once Dhruv came back from UK, he saw the opportunity to open a financial services firm. “I found out that there was a lack of a proper financial advisory services in Goa. There was a gap in the market,” says Dhruv
Speaking on investment patterns in Goa, Dhruv says, “Goans love to invest in fixed deposits. In my opinion, if part of that money is allocated properly to equity, given that bank FD rates are at an all-time low, we will see a stronger and stable equity market. This will help people earn a better post-tax return than what they would have earned from interests on fixed deposits, which are taxable. Investors need to pay attention to their investments and finances; look at their asset allocations and invest appropriately. People are busy in their day-to-day lives and work that they tend to neglect the need for proper financial planning or don’t pay attention to their savings.”
Dhruv and his team constantly update themselves on current market and financial developments. “Besides my active reading and studies, we interact with the biggest and brightest fund managers in the country and understand their perspective of the global and domestic markets and trends. This keeps us well informed on the happenings in the industry and helps us in taking informed investment decisions. My active participation in the Mumbai Angels Network, HNI family connects, ultra-high net worth communities, family business owners, family offices and SFO Groups helps in understanding various investment opportunities available, which we can then offer to our clients. We also have our own research team which is constantly researching about upcoming products and trends in the financial world.”
Regarding his future plans, Dhruv plans to set up a dedicated equity research desk and get into equity trading. “We want to start equity trading and private equity for our clients and expand our footprint in Mumbai.”
As CEO of IWS, Dhruv concludes with some financial advice to people. “It is better to get into financial planning and investing your money as early as possible in your life. Paul Samuelson, America’s first Nobel laureate has rightly said, “Investing should be like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. Thus, always remain invested, and make your money work for you”
