Zerodha-backed Wint Wealth launches new debt investment product to offer 9.5% pre-tax XIRR in 18 months

Zerodha-backed alternate debt asset platform Wint Wealth on Monday (May 31, 2021) launched Wint Bricks through which business loans backed by property will be made available for investment to retail investors. For this, Wint Wealth has tied up with UGRO Capital, an NBFC with a credit rating of A, which focuses on addressing the capital needs of small businesses.

Wint Wealth said in a statement that Wint Bricks is suited to the Indian investment style, allowing retail investors to invest in secured assets that offer a pre-tax XIRR (Extended Internal Rate of Return) of 9.50% P.A. with maturity of 18 months.

Wint Bricks is a Covered Bond asset providing a dual recourse over the investment – i.e., if an NBFC were to go bankrupt, investors still remain shielded from the blow through diversification into handpicked alternate loans picked by Wint Wealth. It is a tax-efficient investment option for individual investors as equity-based long term capital gains (LTCG) are levied on them (If the they stay invested for more than a year), irrespective of the investor’s income slab with only 10% charged on the interest, Wint Wealth said.

Commenting on the new asset, Ajinkya Kulkarni, Co-founder of Wint Wealth said, “Traditionally, structured debt investment was only available to the Ultra HNIs with a ticket size between Rs. 50L to 1Cr. At Wint Wealth, we believe Structured Debt investment should not be limited only for HNIs and UHNIs. With our high rated asset-backed debt products, we aim to democratize fixed-income assets for retail investors to enter the debt landscape with a ticket size as low as Rs. 10,000. This helps first-time debt investors to diversify their investment towards debt.”

He further said there is a huge need for investment options that lie in between low risk – low return, like Fixed Deposits & Debt Mutual Funds, and high risk – high return, like stocks and equity mutual funds. “Thus, alternative investments are one of the best ways to diversify individual investment portfolios and generate passive income, useful for post-retirement expenses.”

Earlier this year, Wint Wealth raised $2Mn seed funding from high-profile investors including Zerodha’s fund Rainmatter Capital, Better Capital, CRED’s founder Kunal Shah, Paytm’s ex-CEO Praveen Jadhav and other investors. The company aims to deliver higher returns than FDs at a risk appetite that is lower than equity investments.