Karan Bhagat: The man who will keep you rich

Karan Bhagat has good reason to smile. He holds around 6% in IIFL Wealth Management, which is valued at Rs 5,000 crore after global equity investment fund General Atlantic picked up a 21.6% stake. For a company which is less than a decade old, having Rs 100,000 crore worth of assets under management is a feat. Bhagat predicts that number will grow 30% year on year. Among the heavy hitters whose money IIFL Wealth manages are Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Shah, and Raghav Behl. Bhagat is happy to tap global networks, and the General Atlantic investment is nothing short of an international endorsement. But he is looking at it differently: General Atlantic’s presence will add more weight to IIFL Wealth, which will help in recruiting from elite campuses. Bhagat is also an angel investor in half-a-dozen startups across sectors. While he says they are just investments in friends’ ventures, he is quick to point out that their valuations are generally pretty decent. One of his pals says Bhagat just signs the cheque and doesn’t do a hard-nosed assessment. Bhagat’s latest play is not in an asset class but in a school. IIFL Wealth along with the Indian Chess School has been organising the Mumbai International Chess Tournament for the past two years.