Lighthouse Canton Takes on the NRI Wealth Fragmentation Problem

The launch also includes a new Systematic Global Equities Fund domiciled at GIFT City in Gujarat. The structure gives Indian resident investors a tax-efficient, regulated route into global equity markets through the International Financial Services Centres Authority framework, the firm said.

GIFT City's IFSC framework is central to the proposition. The IFSCA has progressively expanded its permissions, making the financial hub a credible venue for cross-border fund structuring. Several asset managers have recently adopted the same structure as a complement to direct overseas listings.

On the investment thesis, Abhay Laijawala, managing director and chief investment officer for India, said the firm sees alpha opportunities in mid-cap companies exposed to defence, artificial intelligence infrastructure and financial formalisation themes, a view shared broadly across India-focused asset managers but one that implies active stock selection rather than index exposure.

The NRI wealth segment remains structurally split among domestic Indian private banks, international private banks with limited India-facing capabilities, and specialist boutiques. Few institutions hold regulatory permissions across SEBI, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Dubai Financial Services Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority simultaneously, which gives genuinely multi-jurisdictional operators a compliance moat that also concentrates operational complexity.

Group CEO Shilpi Chowdhary described the platform as the first public expression of infrastructure built over a decade, citing regulated entities in five jurisdictions and a presence across India's key financial centres.

The forward test is whether Global Indian signs named family office or ultra-high-net-worth mandates that demonstrate the consolidated model in practice. Lighthouse Canton has the regulatory infrastructure. The commercial question is client acquisition in a segment where trust and referral networks matter more than product specification.