Karan Bhagat: How India Creates & Passes On Wealth | CEO of 360 ONE, India's Leading Wealth Manager
Simi speaks with Karan Bhagat, Founder and CEO of 360 ONE — one of India's largest wealth and asset management firms, advising nearly 9,000 of the country's top families with almost $80 billion in assets under management, including industrialists, tech founders, Bollywood stars, cricketers, and some of India's most prominent public figures. Recorded at the India Conference at Harvard, this conversation traces Karan Bhagat's extraordinary journey from cold-calling Delhi's wealthiest families at age 25 to building a firm that just partnered with UBS.
Karan Bhagat shares how he built 360 ONE with $3 million in seed capital during the 2008 financial crisis, why adversity became his greatest advantage, and his conviction that true wealth is created only by building your own business. He explains why global banks like Goldman Sachs and UBS have struggled to crack India's wealth management market, opens up about generational wealth in India, and walks through the P-multiple formula that reframed his understanding of success in entrepreneurship.
KEY TOPICS:
How 360 ONE came to advise 9,000 of India's top families — including industrialists, Bollywood stars, and cricketers — with trust at scale
Building India's largest wealth management firm from $3M in seed capital to $80B in assets
The real difference between wealth creation and wealth optimization
Why global banks like UBS and Goldman Sachs have struggled in India
Generational wealth transfer and the "third generation" myth in Indian families
Hard work, hustle, and the "special sauce" that separates the top 50 from 2,000
What does Karan Bhagat believe about wealth creation — and why does he say you can only build wealth through your own business?
What the P-multiple is and how it impacts Karan Bhagat's view on entrepreneurship
ABOUT KARAN BHAGAT:
Karan Bhagat is the Founder, Managing Director, and CEO of 360 ONE WAM, one of India's largest wealth and asset management firms. Under his leadership, 360 ONE has grown to manage approximately $80 billion in assets across nearly 9,000 families. Karan Bhagat began his career at Kotak Securities in 2001 and co-founded IIFL Wealth Management in 2008, which rebranded to 360 ONE in 2023. He forged a strategic collaboration with UBS in 2025. A Fortune India 40 Under 40 honoree and EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Services, 2025), Karan Bhagat holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore.
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