PMS Bazaar hosts Dubai summit with India’s top PMS, AIF and GIFT City fund managers

Dubai is set to host the much-anticipated fourth edition of the Dubai Alternative Investment Summit (DAIS 2026), as PMS Bazaar brings the flagship forum back to the city following three successful editions.

DAIS 2026 comes at a time when India’s alternative investments, spanning portfolio management services (PMS) and alternative investment funds (AIF), have recorded an impressive 31% CAGR over the past decade. Adding to this momentum, inflows from the global investment community have surged through GIFT City, with GIFT AIFs reporting cumulative commitments of $26.3 billion as of September 2025.

Against this backdrop, DAIS 2026 is positioned as a high-impact, networking-led forum where NRI and global investors, Indian and international asset managers, distributors, family offices, wealth managers, advisors, and investment professionals come together to connect and gain expert insights on India’s fast-growing alternative investment landscape.

What sets the summit apart is its speaker line-up. Unlike other investment events, DAIS 2026 unites top-performing alternative fund managers across asset classes, many of whom rarely appear together. The summit presents a strategically curated line-up designed to showcase a diverse range of investment opportunities, products, and asset classes across India’s alternatives landscape.

The agenda brings together a cross-section of India’s most influential and emerging voices in alternative investments. It commences with a market-anchoring perspective from Aniruddha Chatterjee of NSE Indices, who highlights the significance of Nifty indices in benchmarking the Indian equity market and explains how they are widely used to evaluate investment performance, setting a foundation for the summit’s deeper discussions on alternative investment strategies.

A keynote address by Geetika Gupta of ICICI Prudential AMC anchors the summit’s investment narrative, focusing on execution discipline, portfolio construction, and decision-making beyond market headlines—an approach that has grown increasingly relevant as Indian alternatives expand in scale and complexity.

The summit then unfolds through focused presentations covering Indian and global markets, spanning public and private investment avenues. These include insights from Manit Ankhad of Dolat Capital on data-driven quantitative investing, Varun Sanan of Edelweiss AMC on unlocking India and global investing through GIFT City, Sivaramakrishnan R of Sincere Syndication on transformative pre-IPO opportunities in India, Hitesh Dhankani of Analah DIFC on private equity and fractional real estate, and Amit Jeswani of Stallion Asset on growth investing as a driver of superior alpha.

The summit also features high-impact panel discussions that bring together fund managers and investment experts to explore opportunities across a broad range of alternative investment products and asset classes. The opening panel brings together Anirudh Garg of INVasset LLP, Abhisar Jain of Monarch AIF, and Dhaval Mehta of Motilal Oswal AMC, all recognized experts in small- and mid-cap investing, with Ajaya Sharma of Adfactors as moderator. The panel will focus on stock selection and risk management in India’s small- and mid-cap equities, providing a deep dive into strategies, opportunities, and risk considerations in this segment.

The discussion then broadens into private markets, featuring a distinguished panel of private equity and venture capital investment experts, including Pavan Sarawad of Globridge Capital IFSC, Vinit Rai of JM Financial Private Equity, and Vignesh Shankar of a99 VC, moderated by Vikaas M Sachdeva, co-chair of the IVCA CAT III Council. The session will cover VC and PE investing across all stages—from early-stage startups and growth-stage scale-ups to late-stage companies and listings, offering actionable insights on funding strategies, emerging trends, and high-potential growth opportunities in India and global markets.

The summit also features a standout discussion showcasing India’s leading PMS fund managers who have achieved 5X growth in five years. The panel, featuring Divam Sharma of Green Portfolio, Vijay Bharadia of Wallfort Financial Services, Pawan Bharaddia of Equitree Capital Advisors, and moderated by Dinesh Giridhar of Dolat Capital, will provide an inside look at how they identify opportunities early, build high-conviction portfolios, and compound wealth to deliver exceptional returns.

An exclusive session on SME investing will bring together Abhishek Jaiswal of Finavenue Growth Fund, Rishi Agarwal of Aarth Growth Fund, Mohit Nigam of Hem Securities, and Vineet Arora of NAV Capital—experienced investment professionals with a strong track record of identifying and investing in high-quality opportunities across India’s small- and medium-sized enterprises. The panel will explore the role of SMEs as the backbone of India’s economy, examining how they drive growth, create wealth, and contribute to long-term economic development.

In the post-Covid investment landscape, “India exposure” has expanded far beyond traditional avenues. Opportunities now span listed equities, quant-driven models, private credit, SME investing, private equity, venture capital, pre-IPO routes, fractional real estate, and more. For NRIs and global investors, the challenge is no longer access, but building a diversified portfolio across the right products, understanding their nuances, optimizing for tax efficiency, and aligning expectations on risk and time horizon. DAIS 2026 is designed to help investors navigate this complexity with clarity and confidence.

“As global interest in Indian alternatives surges, DAIS 2026 helps NRIs and global investors cut through the noise to discover innovative, high-potential alternative investment strategies beyond traditional investing,” says R Pallavarajan, founder-director of PMS Bazaar.

Standard delegate passes are priced at Dh449, while Gulf News readers can avail a special rate of Dh359 using the promo code GULFNEWS. The pass grants full access to all sessions, knowledge booths, lunch, and high-tea breaks, offering an unmatched opportunity to connect with India’s leading fund managers and gain insights into the fastest-growing alternative investment avenues.

For more details and registration, visit pmsbazaar.com

Date: Saturday, February 14, 2026

Time: 09:30 AM – 04:30 PM (GST)

Venue: Conrad Dubai Hotel, Sheikh Zayed Road

Event Page: https://pmsbazaar.com/Events/DAIS-2026