Indian firm going global

ASK Private Wealth

Blackstone-backed Indian wealth arm that planted a DIFC flag in Jan 2025 to bridge NRIs and global investors into India.

Dedicated NRI team

Yes

Strategy tenure

DIFC office since Jan 2025

India onshore arc

Onshore active

Hubs

Dubai, India onshore

ASK Private Wealth, the wealth arm of the Blackstone-backed ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group, opened a DIFC office in Dubai in January 2025 to connect non-resident Indians and global investors to Indian markets while giving India-based clients a route to global diversification. The Dubai entity, ASK Wealth Advisors (DIFC) Pvt Ltd, is led by market head for the Middle East and Africa Prateek Pant, under group CEO Rajesh Saluja.

Why it matters

ASK is the Blackstone-sponsored version of the same NRI-corridor bet Nuvama made: an Indian house using a DIFC beachhead as the bridge between Gulf-based Indian wealth and Indian-market product. Its talent has also seeded a rival — the two men now building IIFL Capital's wealth business came straight from ASK — showing how thin the senior NRI-banker bench is and how the same people recur across the Indian challengers.

India arc

India onshore 2008–now

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By the numbers

₹78,000 Cr+ group AUM (~US$9bn)

ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group assets under management, self-reported on the group's own site as of December 2024. This is a group-level figure spanning investment management, asset management, private equity and wealth advisory — the parent of ASK Private Wealth, not the DIFC/wealth arm alone. ₹78,000 crore is roughly US$9bn.

ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group (official site) · Dec 2024 · self-reported

The journey

14 Jan 2025Launch

ASK Private Wealth launches ASKWA DIFC in Dubai for NRIs and global investors

ASK Private Wealth announced the launch of operations in the Dubai International Financial Centre through ASK Wealth Advisors (DIFC) Pvt Ltd, positioned to serve NRIs, global investors and professional clients across Middle East and African markets, and to give India-based clients access to global portfolio diversification. Named at launch: Rajesh Saluja (Co-founder, CEO & MD, ASK Private Wealth), Prateek Pant (Market Head for Middle East & Africa, ASK Wealth Advisors (DIFC) Pvt Ltd) and Salmaan Jaffery (Chief Business Development Officer, DIFC Authority).

Dubai Media Office · Dubai Media Office

Connections

IIFL Capital ServicesIIFL Capital's joint CEOs Prakash Bulusu and Raghav Gupta were previously Senior Managing Partners at ASK Asset and Wealth Management, running its India and offshore markets before joining IIFL in May 2024.

2 sources · all linked

ASK Asset & Wealth Management Group (official site) · Dubai Media Office