Partnering with PowerUp Money

Wealth is one of the very few industries that can compound at over 20% annually for decades. In India, this story is now unfolding at scale.

At the center of it is a shift in what households invest in. 

For a long time, Indian savings flowed first into gold, real estate, or fixed deposits, with market-linked products playing a smaller role. That has changed. Over the last decade, mutual funds have moved from the periphery to the center of how Indian households invest. Both industry AUM and annual SIP flows have nearly tripled in the last half-decade. For a growing share of Indian households, investing doesn’t begin with property or gold, it begins with a mutual fund SIP. 

Alongside this, how people invest has changed just as meaningfully.

The “Direct” Dilemma: Access vs Outcomes

Traditionally, “Regular” plans, distributed by Mutual Fund Distributors (MFDs) dominated mutual fund flows. And these MFDs played a quiet but critical role. While they are notorious for pushing high commission products, the best distributors are not just salespeople. They simplify the complexity of choosing from over 5000 mutual fund schemes, counsel investors to stay invested when headlines turn grim, and help them rebalance out of poorly performing schemes.

The Direct shift changed this equation overnight. Half a decade ago, Direct plans accounted for about a quarter of mutual fund AUM. Today, they are approaching almost half of the industry. The shift is even sharper in new flows, where digital-first investors increasingly default to Direct. This has been a clear win for democratization. Direct plans did what they were meant to do: costs have come down, access has widened, and control has moved to the investor. What they did not attempt to solve was the problem of investor behavior.

As of March 2025, roughly a third of Regular plan assets were held for more than five years, compared to 19% for Direct plans. The difference highlights how investment journeys can vary based on how portfolios are monitored and adjusted over time. Market cycles introduce volatility and without timely actions, portfolios can gradually drift. Across mutual fund categories, performance dispersion remains wide. The gap between top- and bottom-quartile funds over rolling three-year periods often runs into several hundred basis points. Yet, a meaningful share of retail AUM continues to remain invested in long-term underperforming schemes. In large-cap and mid-cap categories, roughly a quarter of category AUM sits in bottom-quartile funds.

This is the tradeoff of the DIY era. Investors are saving on fees, but outcomes increasingly depend on whether they receive the right guidance at the right moments. You have to look at what happens when millions of people are suddenly asked to make complex financial decisions on their own. When we met Prateek and the team at PowerUp Money, it became clear that the next chapter of India’s wealth story would be about building the advisory layer for direct customers. 

The Wedge: Portfolio Rebalancing

PowerUp Money started with a simple yet compelling insight: most investors need help in making a small number of high-impact decisions at the right time. They identified Portfolio Rebalancing as their “wedge”, a specific, high-value problem that builds immediate trust. For a typical retail investor, rebalancing a portfolio is complicated. It requires tracking performance, calculating tax implications, understanding exit loads, and executing multiple transaction legs. So, most investors simply do nothing. They let “off-track” funds drag down their returns for years. This is not a problem of intelligence or information. It is a problem of inertia. 

PowerUp turns the complex choreography of rebalancing into a seamless, 1-click experience. They scan a user’s portfolio, identify the drag from underperforming funds, calculate the most tax-efficient path to switch, and present the user with a simple rebalance plan.

It is the kind of sophisticated, active management previously reserved for HNIs, now available to a 25-year-old starting their first SIP. This insight has struck a chord. Over 25,000 investors have already subscribed to PowerUp, trusting the platform to optimize their financial portfolio.

Compounding Trust

In wealth management, trust compounds slowly and endures deeply. Once earned, it often spans generations.

PowerUp Money is starting with a focused, subscription-based mutual fund advisory solution for the mass-affluent. By charging a subscription fee rather than earning hidden commissions, they have aligned their incentives perfectly with the user. They grow only when the user’s wealth grows.

Indian households’ needs are nuanced and their balance sheets complex. PowerUp aims to expand thoughtfully, supporting investors across products and life stages. We believe PowerUp is building the foundation to become their long-term wealth partner. India does not need more ways to invest. It needs better ways to stay invested well. We are thrilled to partner with Prateek and the team at PowerUp Money as they build that future.