While client movement between firms has accelerated off the back of the financial crisis, Merrill Lynch’s Indian wealth management arm would seem to have been almost unaffected – and is instead positioning for growth - according to comments made by the firm’s head of global wealth management, Reuters reports.

Speaking to the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit, Pradeep Dokania reportedly told attendees thatMerrill Lynch has retained "99 per cent" of its Indian private clients. “We have not lost clients,” he said.

Mr Dokania was also very positive on the business’s growth prospects, saying that he expects 20-25 per cent growth in new client assets over the next year. The growing number of high net worth individuals in India has been well noted, and it is expected that their ranks will be swollen further as domestic stock markets recover and investors start to add more risk to their portfolios.

To support the acquisition of new clients Merrill reportedly plans to add at least 10 new relationship managers to its existing 50-strong Indian wealth management team.

Merrill is far from alone in expressing ambitious plans for India’s burgeoning – and many would say underserved - high net worth segment. In August Reuters reported thatMorgan Stanley expects its Indian wealth management arm to serve 1,000 clients in 3 to 4 years, a tripling of its client base that will see the division increase its staff numbers by 50 per cent.

In an interview with the news service, executive directors Himanshu Bhagat and Amitava Neogi said the Indian unit had gained some 300 clients since its launch last September, aided by stock market gains and rising optimism on world economic recovery.

Meanwhile,Religare Macquarie Private Wealth, the wealth management joint venture between India’s Religare Wealth Management Services and Australian bank Macquarie, has also unveiled plans to hire some 800 investment advisors and CRMs in the next three to four years as it expands.