Master Trust is a financial supermarket built over four decades - it started as a consultancy in 1985 and kept adding licences and platforms until it could sell almost every financial product an Indian household or business might need, from stocks and mutual funds to insurance and loans. The recurring approach is to own the customer relationship across products rather than specialising in just one, using a hybrid model that combines full-service advice with discount-broking pricing and a proprietary technology backbone. That is how a firm founded by two chartered accountants in Ludhiana grew into a listed group serving over 4,20,000 registered customers across 22 states through 54 branches and more than 740 business partners.
Business segments
Three engines at different stages - a broking cash cow that funds the group, a wealth and distribution platform that monetises the same customers, and a small but growing asset-management arm - all feeding off a shared client base and a proprietary technology stack.
1. Broking and trading platforms: the engine that pays for everything else
A full-spectrum broking business that lets clients trade equities, derivatives, currencies and commodities on NSE, BSE, NCDEX and MCX through a suite of proprietary platforms, earning brokerage on every transaction.
- Hybrid pricing under one roof - the company runs a traditional full-service broking desk alongside a discount-broking vertical called “My Value Trade,” launched in 2013, so it can serve both advice-seeking investors and cost-sensitive active traders from the same infrastructure.
- Platforms built in-house, not rented - its desktop terminal MasterSwift 2.0, browser-based MasterWeb, mobile app, and the professional-grade Agnik platform (launched in 2024) are all proprietary, giving the company control over features like AI-driven charting, back-testing, and free API access for algo traders rather than paying licence fees to a third party.
- The subsidiary that carries the group - the broking engine operates primarily through Master Capital Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary that holds the NSE and BSE memberships and contributed roughly three-quarters of consolidated net profit in FY22, making it the financial anchor for every other business the group runs.
- Commodities add a second exchange membership - the group acquired membership with NCDEX and MCX, so the group captures trading volumes beyond equities without mixing regulatory licences in a single entity.
- Depository services lock clients in - as a Depository Participant of NSDL since 1999 and CDSL since 2001, the company holds client securities in demat accounts, which creates stickiness because moving a demat account is friction that most customers avoid.
2. Wealth management, advisory and distribution: monetising the same customer twice
A distribution engine that sells third-party mutual funds, insurance, bonds and structured products to the same client base the broking business already owns, earning commissions and advisory fees without taking inventory risk.
- One customer, many products - the company distributes mutual funds from leading AMCs, life and general insurance through its wholly owned insurance-broking subsidiary (IRDA-registered since 2004), fixed-income securities including tax-free bonds and corporate deposits, and structured products with downside protection, so a single client relationship generates revenue across multiple product lines.
- A dedicated private-wealth vertical for the largest accounts - launched in 2017, the Private Wealth Management desk targets high-net-worth individuals with personalised financial planning, which commands higher fees and deeper relationships than mass-market distribution.
- Digital distribution lowers the cost to serve - the mtWealth platform, launched in 2025, lets clients manage SIPs, purchase and redeem mutual funds paperlessly, while the SinglePoint service portal handles all client requests in one place, reducing the need for branch visits.
- International investing as a differentiator - through a partner platform, Vested Finance, the company offers access to US stocks, giving its clients an option that most domestic brokers do not provide natively.
3. Portfolio Management Services and asset management: the growth bet
An in-house, SEBI-registered PMS business that runs proprietary investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals and institutions, with a mutual-fund licence now in the pipeline.
- A flagship strategy with a long track record - the “Master Trust India Growth Strategy,” originally launched in 2011, has delivered a compound annual growth rate of roughly 26% since inception, nearly double the return of its benchmark BSE500 TRI over the same period, which is the performance story the company uses to attract new PMS clients.
- A second strategy for nervous money - the “iRage Absolute Return Strategy,” launched in 2020, aims to generate positive returns with low monthly volatility by arbitraging between index futures and their constituent stock futures, appealing to clients who want equity-like returns without equity-like drawdowns.
- The mutual-fund licence is the next unlock - Master Capital Services Limited received in-principle approval from SEBI in November 2025 to sponsor and set up a mutual fund, which would let the group launch its own fund schemes rather than only distributing other AMCs’ products, moving it from a distributor to an asset gatherer that earns management fees.
- Run by the same team that does merchant banking - the PMS and merchant-banking verticals are both operated through Master Portfolio Services Limited and led by a managing director with over three decades of experience, so the investment and capital-raising capabilities sit in one unit.
Technology and digital infrastructure
A proprietary technology stack - desktop, browser, mobile and API - that every business segment uses to acquire and serve clients, built and maintained in-house rather than licensed from vendors.
- One platform family, every access point - MasterSwift 2.0 (desktop), MasterWeb (browser), the mobile app, and RestAPI (for algo traders) all draw on the same infrastructure, so a feature built for one channel - like advanced charting or option-strategy builders - becomes available across all of them.
- API-first for the algo crowd - the free RestAPI gives developers and high-frequency traders real-time market data, automated strategy execution and back-testing capabilities, which attracts a segment of sophisticated traders who generate high volumes and are sticky to the platform once their strategies are coded to it.
- Digital onboarding cuts the branch out - paperless eKYC account opening, introduced in 2019, and the SinglePoint unified service platform, launched in 2025, mean a customer in a state with no physical branch can still open an account, trade and resolve service requests entirely online.
Group structure and partners
A holding company with six subsidiaries, each carved out along regulatory lines - broking, commodities, insurance, portfolio management, real estate and wealth advisory - so that no single entity needs every licence.
- The holding company sits at the top - Master Trust Ltd is the listed ultimate holding company, while the operating businesses sit in subsidiaries that each hold the specific SEBI, IRDAI or exchange memberships their activity requires.
- Master Capital Services is the heavyweight - this wholly owned subsidiary holds the NSE and BSE broking memberships and is the most significant operating company in the group, contributing over half of consolidated net assets and nearly three-quarters of consolidated net profit in FY22.
- Commodities and insurance sit in separate regulated entities - Master Commodity Services Limited (a step-down subsidiary) holds the NCDEX and MCX memberships, while Master Insurance Brokers Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary) holds the IRDA insurance-broking registration, keeping each licence in a clean legal wrapper.
- The founder-led management team spans generations - the group is led by the founding chartered accountant, Mr. Harjeet Singh Arora (Managing Director, over four decades of experience), alongside a team that includes the co-founder, a second generation in sales and strategic roles, and veteran professionals running the PMS, broking and institutional desks.