Motilal Oswal targets 10x profit growth, maps out succession plan
Motilal Oswal Financial Services has inducted the founders' sons onto its board and outlined a Berkshire Hathaway-inspired capital allocation strategy as it targets 10x profit growth over the next decade.
Motilal Oswal, chairman of the Indian financial services group, has placed the next generation on the company's main board while targeting a tenfold increase in profit over the next ten years. Pratik Oswal, 38, and Vaibhav Agrawal, 37, have joined the board to begin learning the business, though their father stressed that family control is not guaranteed. "That will depend on them, on how they choose to shape it," Oswal said.
The succession framework also elevates Group Managing Director Navin Agarwal to an effective promoter status despite not being a family member. Agarwal, who joined as head of research and built the institutional and asset management businesses, holds a 5-6% stake through ESOPs, making him the third-largest shareholder. "It's not that we owe it to him, he's earned it," Oswal said.
The leadership transition coincides with a highly ambitious financial target. Having grown profits at 33% annually over the past decade to reach Rs 1,869 crore in FY26 on revenue of Rs 9,416 crore, the firm now aims for 25% annual profit growth. Achieving this would deliver roughly 10x profit expansion over the next ten years.
To support this trajectory, the firm has adopted a capital allocation playbook modelled on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Motilal Oswal has quietly built a Rs 9,400-crore treasury engine that has compounded at 40% annually since FY14. Operating profits from the firm's seven business lines are channeled into these long-term treasury investments rather than being distributed.
The group now manages or advises roughly Rs 7 lakh crore in assets across retail and institutional broking, asset management, wealth management, private equity, investment banking and housing finance. To retain talent amid this expansion across 12,500-13,000 employees, the firm is building equity and profit-linked compensation structures for senior executives. It is also investing in owned office towers across major cities to establish permanent operational footholds.
These succession and expansion plans rest on the stability of the 39-year partnership between Oswal and co-founder Raamdeo Agrawal. What began as an informal arrangement in 1987 evolved into a 50-50 ownership structure, with Agrawal focused on research and large client relationships while Oswal manages the broader business. "The shared priority is the company's growth," Oswal said.
