Centrum Capital began as a money-changing business and, after selling that operation in 2018, transformed itself in 2021 by securing a rare new Indian banking licence - the first in nearly seven years - and using it to revive a collapsed co-operative bank, turning a fee-based advisory group into a banking-led financial conglomerate. The recurring idea that explains the group’s shape is product neutrality and cross-leverage: it builds independent businesses - a bank, a wealth manager, a broker, an investment bank, and a private-credit fund - and then connects them so that a client sourced in one part of the group can be served by several others. Today the group employs over 6,200 people across its entities and operates through a network that reaches from institutional dealing rooms to rural microfinance borrowers.
Business segments
Five engines at different stages - a deposit-funded bank built from a rescue, a wealth franchise managing over ₹38,000 crore of client assets, a broking platform that now houses the investment bank, a private-credit fund manager with zero defaults, and an affordable housing lender that was sold in 2026 - each designed to feed the others with clients and capital.
1. Banking: the deposit-and-lending engine the group was rebuilt around
Unity Small Finance Bank was created to absorb a failed co-operative lender, and it now gathers ₹11,925 crore of deposits to fund lending to micro-enterprises, small businesses and salaried employees across more than 900 touchpoints.
- Born from a regulatory rescue - when the Reserve Bank of India invited offers to revive Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank, Centrum’s financial-services arm won the in-principle approval, and Unity Bank opened on 1 November 2021 with about ₹2,400 crore of assets, 145 offices and over 200,000 active customers transferred from Centrum’s existing MSME and microfinance books.
- Absorbed a million depositors overnight - in January 2022 the government amalgamated PMC Bank into Unity Bank, bringing roughly 110 branches, over 1,100 employees and close to one million depositors; 96% of depositors were paid upfront under deposit-insurance rules, while the rest received structured repayments and preference shares.
- Lends where the big banks often don’t - the loan book of ₹10,985 crore is split across secured business loans, unsecured MSME credit, supply-chain finance and microfinance for women entrepreneurs in semi-urban and rural areas, with a growing push into gold loans and small-ticket loans against property.
- Digital-first, but branch-heavy - the bank upgraded its core system to an AI/ML-ready platform, migrating 1.5 million customers in 88 days, while simultaneously expanding to over 325 branches and an extended business-correspondent network; it also partnered with BharatPe to launch its first credit card, introduced a 3-in-1 savings-demat-trading account with Centrum Broking, and offers end-to-end digital personal loans.
- Funded by patient capital - promoters put in over ₹1,105 crore of equity on day one and committed another ₹1,900 crore through warrants exercisable over eight years; the deposit-insurance corporation extended roughly ₹3,800 crore of liquidity to repay eligible depositors, which the bank has up to 20 years to return.
2. Wealth management: the client-relationship hub that gathers assets
Centrum Wealth manages over ₹38,000 crore of client assets for more than 5,000 families, earning fees by distributing mutual funds, portfolio strategies and alternative investments through an open-architecture platform that mixes in-house and third-party products.
- Open architecture, not a captive shop - the firm gives clients access to over 100 discretionary portfolios, 75-plus alternative investment funds and more than 45 mutual funds, with an internal investment committee overseeing the selection so that advice is not tied to a single manufacturer.
- Clients come through referrals, not just advertising - more than half of new clients are sourced from existing relationships, and three-quarters of new clients are still in the wealth-creation phase, which means they are likely to need more services as their assets grow.
- Technology that makes the relationship manager smarter - a business-intelligence unit tracks deal movements and flags upcoming maturities or large redemptions, while the client-facing app ‘Wealth-Verse 2.0’ handles transactions and portfolio analytics, so the 265-member team can operate from 18 cities covering over 85% of India’s addressable ultra-high-net-worth market.
- In-house strategies that beat benchmarks - the oldest discretionary portfolio strategy, running since 2011, delivered 19.8% annualised returns over a decade against a 16% benchmark, and the aggressive model-portfolio strategy returned 20.5% versus 14.6%, giving the firm a performance story to tell alongside its distribution business.
3. Broking and investment banking: the capital-markets pipeline, now under one roof
Centrum Broking executes trades for institutions and retail investors while also running the group’s mid-market investment bank, which was transferred into the broking entity in 2026 - so the same licence now covers equity research, deal-making and trade execution.
- Institutional equities with a research edge - the institutional desk covers large, mid and small-cap companies with a focus on under-researched names, and in FY25 it onboarded seven new institutional clients while also engaging 50 family offices and high-net-worth individuals directly.
- A retail app built for self-directed investors - the ‘Centrum GalaxC Trade’ app offers options strategy builders, curated thematic baskets starting at ₹40,000, stock SIPs and multi-lingual support, while a paperless account-opening tool and a 3-in-1 savings-demat-trading account with Unity Bank make onboarding quick.
- The investment bank moved into the broker - effective March 2026, Centrum Capital transferred its merchant-banking division to Centrum Broking via a slump sale, and the broking arm received its own SEBI Category-I Merchant Banker registration, so the group’s IPO advisory, QIPs and M&A mandates now sit inside the same entity that executes the trades.
- Mid-market deals with a sector focus - the investment-banking team has a dedicated infrastructure advisory group covering renewables, roads, ports and airports, and in FY25 it acted as lead manager on a ₹3,500-crore QIP for Bank of Maharashtra, sole banker on a $239-million foreign-currency convertible bond for Zee Entertainment, and advisor on a ₹7,300-crore acquisition of Reliance Capital.
4. Private credit: a fund manager that has returned capital without a single default
Modulus Alternatives runs two private-credit funds that have together deployed over ₹2,675 crore across 22 investments in healthcare, industrials and consumer sectors, with zero delinquencies and more than ₹1,630 crore already returned to investors.
- Fund I proved the model - the maiden fund completed its full lifecycle, delivering a gross IRR of 17.01%, a median investor IRR of 14.28% and returning 1.50 times the paid-in capital, with 13 of its 15 exits happening ahead of schedule.
- Fund II is twice the size - the second fund closed with commitments exceeding ₹700 crore, has already deployed over ₹900 crore through the Fund along with other investors across seven investments, is tracking a gross IRR above 16%, and carries the highest-possible grading from CareEdge for alternative investment funds.
- Senior talent from the top of Indian finance - the firm brought in the former CFO of Reliance Industries as an equity partner and a former president of CRISIL’s large-corporate ratings as an independent director, signalling the kind of credit judgement the platform is built on.
- Earns fees for managing other people’s money - the business collects management fees and performance fees from the funds it manages, so its income is tied to fund size and investment outcomes rather than its own balance-sheet risk.
Group structure and partners
Centrum Capital is the listed holding company that owns majority stakes in each operating entity, with a joint-venture partner in the bank and a deliberate simplification of the group structure underway.
- Unity Small Finance Bank is promoted by Centrum Financial Services (a Centrum Capital subsidiary) alongside Resilient Innovations - the company behind BharatPe - as a joint investor and co-promoter, with a shareholders’ agreement governing board representation and capital structure.
- Centrum Wealth Limited is the wealth-management subsidiary in which Centrum Capital held 68.28% as of FY23, while Centrum Broking Limited sits under Centrum Financial Services and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centrum Financial Services Limited, in which the holding company holds 99.9976%.
- Modulus Alternatives ceased to be wholly owned in March 2024 after a fresh equity issue brought in an outside investor, leaving Centrum Capital with an 82.35% stake.
- The affordable-housing subsidiary Centrum Housing Finance was sold to Weaver Services Private Limited in March 2026, following RBI approval, and is no longer part of the group.
- The group has been pruning legacy structures: it sold its Singapore and Hong Kong subsidiaries in a management buy-out in November 2023, amalgamated the microfinance NBFC into the listed parent, and retired from a partnership interest in Centrum Alternatives LLP in March 2026.