The Association of Portfolio Managers in India (APMI) is developing industry-wide infrastructure to support the next phase of growth in portfolio management services (PMS), with an ambitious target of expanding the sector tenfold, its Chairman Vikas Khemani said on Wednesday.
Speaking to ANI during the APMI 3rd Annual Conference 2026 in Mumbai, Khemani said the industry would need stronger systems and processes rather than relying solely on growth in assets under management.
“Realizing 10x growth is not just about scaling AUM—it’s about building scalable infrastructure. APMI is creating an industry-led fund accounting system and a digital onboarding platform by the industry, for the industry”.
He said a combination of broader investor outreach, simpler business processes and a stronger industry ecosystem would be necessary to achieve the targeted expansion.
“You don’t achieve 10x by one thing. You achieve 10x by, like I said, creating the reach which basically gets you more investment, you’re creating the ease of doing business, creating an ecosystem,” he said.
APMI has already expanded its engagement beyond Mumbai, organising programmes in six other cities during the year, including Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Delhi. The association now plans to extend its outreach to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and is preparing an awareness campaign expected to be launched in the coming months.
“So I think idea is to create awareness, idea is to create reach and eventually, you know, once that happens, I think it will grow,” he said.
The association is also introducing initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and compliance for distributors, investors and portfolio managers. Its planned digital onboarding and compliance platforms are expected to support a network that includes more than 23,000 distributor partners.
Khemani also stressed the importance of investor suitability as PMS adoption increases, saying customers should be offered products aligned with their financial requirements.
“Suitability is not a concern of only this industry. Suitability applies to every financial product or any product for that matter, especially the financial products,” Khemani said.
He added that APMI was educating distributors on sales practices and suitability.
“If you end up selling a product which is not suitable to your client, it will backfire you eventually”.
On artificial intelligence and superintelligence, Khemani said the technology was still developing, with financial firms increasingly incorporating it into investment and onboarding processes.
“We don’t know what are the risks of AI, what are the opportunities of AI,” he said, noting that the industry would need to keep adapting as the technology evolves.
Source: ANI
