IIFL appoints Pitchfork Partners to manage strategic communications
In a bid to keep up with the rapid expansion of the financial services market in India, IIFL Group has made a move to bolster its communications segment by contracting Pitchfork Partners for support in the domain. The strategic communications consultancy will offer analytics-based direction to the firm.
Founded in 1995, IIFL is a financial services corporation that was conceptualised as a low-cost brokerage firm, but has since grown and diversified to offer a variety of services. The conglomerate’s long list of business segments offer services in non-banking & housing finance, wealth & asset management, financial advisory, mutual funds and investment banking, alongside its broking services in the finance and realty domains.
Since its establishment, the firm has traced a remarkable growth trajectory. Today, IIFL’s operations extend across more than 1,400 branches, employing over 15,000 professionals and generating revenues of nearly $800 million from more than 4 million customers.
Predictably, IIFL’s growth has largely been in tandem with that of the financial advisory sector in India, which has been on a steady upward path, particularly in recent years, with an average annual growth rate of nearly 7% since 2013. This year, the sector is expected to surpass $12 billion in total value.
The growth of demand for financial services comes on the back of a thriving economy and the consequent emergence of new businesses looking to capitalise on the same. As India’s economy is only expected to grow further in coming decades, IIFL is looking to prepare itself to thrive in this evolving scenario, specifically through its ‘Mission 2020’ campaign.
The campaign consists of three primary objectives to be achieved by 2020, which include the doubling of revenues, the boosting of durability by minimising volatility, and mitigation of risk by diversifying revenue sources. To ensure that its communications remain optimal during this process, the firm has now appointed Pitchfork Partners.
Pitchfork Partners is primarily a consulting firm that specialises in marketing and communications. The relatively new firm was founded in 2015 in Mumbai, and offers services such as brand & reputation building, crisis communication, financial communications and investor relations, change management, among a range of others.
The firm prides itself on the experience in its ranks, which will prove useful in this new project, which involves managing communications strategies for every division of the IIFL conglomerate across India.
Commenting on the project, Co-founder of Pitchfork Partners Jaideep Shergill said, "The financial services sector in India is exciting. It is also one of Pitchfork’s strengths. IIFL has shared with us an ambitious roadmap and we are looking forward to partnering it in achieving its goals.”
Nirmal jain, Founder and Chairman of IIFL added, “Pitchfork Partners shares the same beliefs and values as us and we are delighted to partner with them for our communication strategy. It’s an exciting phase – IIFL, with a track record of disruptive innovation, is well-placed to ride the upsurge in financial services on the back of accelerating economic growth. We see a huge opportunity for sustained manifold growth, and Pitchfork has the credentials to help us in this journey.”
