Strengthens GIFT City Investment Capabilities
Lighthouse Canton, a global investment institution headquartered in Singapore, today announced the launch of Global Indian, a dedicated wealth management platform serving non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas investors whose financial affairs span multiple jurisdictions. The platform is the first expression of a broader ambition: to build the definitive cross-border wealth institution for globally mobile communities, wherever in the world they live.
The Indian diaspora, estimated at approximately 35 million individuals, is the largest in the world. According to Reserve Bank of India data, remittances to India reached a record USD 135 billion in FY2024-25, while NRI deposits exceeded USD 164 billion as of March 2025.
Despite the scale of this capital, the wealth of most NRI families remains structurally fragmented: banking relationships are maintained in the country of residence, custody arrangements span multiple geographies, and India-focused investments are frequently managed by a separate set of advisors. These arrangements seldom operate as a unified portfolio, and the burden of coordination falls on the family itself.
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Global Indian has been established to address this fragmentation. The platform provides consolidated multi-jurisdictional reporting, cross-border wealth structuring, and a single advisory relationship encompassing both international and India-domiciled holdings, together with management of the attendant tax and regulatory requirements.
“NRI families frequently hold substantial wealth that is diminished in practice by fragmentation, as no single institution is accountable for the complete picture,” said Sumegh Bhatia, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer – India and Global Indian , Lighthouse Canton , who leads the business. “Global Indian has been designed so that a family resident in Dubai or London, with assets in Mumbai and Singapore, engages with one team, one consolidated view of its wealth, and one coherent set of decisions.”
The platform serves both directions of the India capital corridor. NRIs and international investors are provided access to Indian markets through the organisation’s regulated entities in India and at GIFT City IFSC, operating under IFSCA regulation. Indian resident investors are offered global diversification through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme and GIFT City frameworks. In conjunction with the launch, Lighthouse Canton has introduced a Systematic Global Equities Fund domiciled in GIFT City, offering Indian investors a tax-efficient, regulated avenue to participate in global equity markets.
“We understood this problem early because we come from the community we serve,” said Shilpi Chowdhary, Group CEO, Lighthouse Canton . “India’s diaspora represents one of the most significant and consistently underserved wealth management opportunities in the world; a community whose financial lives span multiple geographies but has rarely been served as one integrated picture.
“Over the past decade, we have structurally built the infrastructure to change that; a regulated platform across five jurisdictions, a presence across India’s key cities, and Keenai, our proprietary wealth technology platform purpose-built to consolidate and manage cross-border wealth.
“Global Indian is the first expression of that capability, and our ambition extends beyond it. We are building Lighthouse Canton to be the institution that globally mobile communities turn to first, wherever significant wealth meets significant complexity. Our commitment to the Global Indian community is to make their experience seamless, connected and frictionless, and to be the number one institution in this space.”
Abhay Laijawala , Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer – India , Lighthouse Canton , added, “India’s transformation is unlocking powerful investment opportunities beyond the benchmark indices. Across defence, AI infrastructure, formalisation and financial inclusion, a ne w generation of mid-cap companies has the potential to outperform the larger market over the next three years. For globally mobile Indians who combine on-the-ground familiarity with India’s evolving market and global thematic awareness, that combination is the alpha edge. Global Indian closes that gap, enabling this community to participate in India’s structural growth while maintaining global diversification.”
Global Indian integrates Lighthouse Canton’s regulated entities in India and GIFT City with its international platform across Singapore, Dubai and the United Kingdom. The offering is supported by Keenai, the institution’s proprietary wealth technology platform, which provides portfolio analytics, lifecycle management, consolidated multi-market reporting, and access to a digital investment marketplace.
Alongside Sumegh, Global Indian is led by Sunil Garg and Abhay Laijawala ( Global and India Chief Investment Officer s), Sanket Sinha (MD and CEO, Global Asset Management), Prashant Tandon (MD and CEO-UAE), and Gurjeet Sohi (MD and Head Wealth Management, India). This leadership structure brings together investment expertise, regional operating capability, and wealth platform specialisation to deliver integrated advisory to the global Indian community.
Source: Business Wire India
