This belief took shape in 2009 with the development of Motilal Oswal Towers. Today, three towers are operational, with a fourth in Delhi already acquired and slated to open by the end of the year. The journey began in Mumbai and expanded to Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, with Delhi next, Motilal Oswal, chairman and managing director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said in an exclusive conversation with Mint.
“The Connaught Place in Delhi is a heritage building we have already bought, and it gives a very distinct identity,” he said.
Riding the investment boom and Nifty’s steady rise, Motilal Oswal Group tapped into the market upswing to push ahead with its idea of creating a lasting physical infrastructure legacy. As capital markets deepened and participation broadened, the group used this momentum not just to grow its core businesses, but also to invest in brick-and-mortar assets that reflect long-term conviction and ownership, turning market success into a tangible, enduring footprint.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services was founded in 1987 by chartered accountants Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal. What began as a modest broking setup in Mumbai grew steadily, client by client, anchored in a research-first culture.
Over the years, the firm has evolved into a diversified financial services group, with asset management and private wealth businesses emerging as key growth engines. Today, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd has a market capitalization of around ₹47,000 crore, with the founders remaining closely involved and holding meaningful promoter stakes.
The 3Ts playbook
The business, Oswal said, rests on three core pillars—talent, towers and technology.
Talent forms the intellectual backbone of the organization. Towers provide the physical environment that nurtures this talent. Technology acts as the enabler, driving scale, efficiency and future growth. The decision to develop owned offices, he stressed, was culture-first rather than purely business-driven.
But the ambition extends well beyond the four existing towers.
“Our larger ambition is to build at least 10 towers across major cities by 2028, fully constructed and ready, and then chart the next phase of expansion,” Oswal said.
Locations have already been explored in Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, with potential sites identified in several of these cities. At the same time, teams are actively working on three to four additional cities to ensure the next leg of growth is lined up, he added.
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Still, the strategy comes with its challenges. As co-working spaces multiply and companies prioritize convenience and cost efficiency, many employees increasingly prefer to work closer to home, sometimes from flexible shared offices.
“We already operate around 180 branches. And in a city like Mumbai, for instance, we have 10 offices. The core hub remains Prabhadevi, but the plan is to add another tower in the suburb and create extensions where people can work closer to home, while still staying connected to the main centre,” Oswal explained.
He was quick to acknowledge that owning offices is capital-intensive and that return on equity may not look attractive on paper.
“It brings pride to our employees and builds trust amongst our customers.”
Defying the trend
“Owning office spaces in an era when the world is embracing managed offices with a view to reduce capex and get more flexibility is indeed a bold move that defies the larger trend,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Group.
If a company has the wherewithal to develop and operate from its own assets, it can also benefit from improved valuation as markets grow, he explained. Rental values across most cities are rising, and lease renewals typically happen at around 5% per annum, in line with industry standards.
“The fact is that legacy Indian companies own assets,” Puri said. “Major Indian industrial houses have their own commercial assets and have been operating from there for years.”
For instance, the Tata Group owns Bombay House in Mumbai, its iconic headquarters held since the early 19th century. Similarly, the Bombay Stock Exchange owns and operates from Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers on Dalal Street—an unmistakable landmark.
Capex math
The total capital expenditure varies by city.
Each tower is likely to cost between ₹100-150 crore, including interiors, Oswal said. The Bengaluru tower, for instance, involved a spend of around ₹110 crore, while Ahmedabad was closer to ₹120 crore. Mumbai is an outlier—when the office there was acquired in 2009-10, the cost was about ₹225 crore.
“These are indicative estimates, and the focus has been exclusively on premium locations,” he said.
Even in a digital-first world, financial institutions continue to open physical branches to build trust. HDFC Bank added 161 branches in the first nine months of FY26, compared with 717 in FY25.
According to Oswal, Motilal Oswal Group’s tower capex will be fully funded through internal accruals, supported by a strong balance sheet.
The group’s net worth has grown nearly tenfold from March 2015 to December 2025, reaching ₹13,632 crore. This growth was supported by an average return on equity of 26% and an average payout of 20%, achieved without raising external capital and even after executing three buybacks, the company said in its investor presentation.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services posted its highest-ever operating profit after tax (PAT) of ₹7,611 crore in Q3FY26, up 16% year-on-year and 10% quarter-on-quarter.
Between March 2015 and March 2025, the company’s revenue compounded at a strong 27% CAGR, rising from ₹773 crore to ₹8,417 crore.
Fixed cost fears
A common concern is whether such investments become a fixed-cost burden during market downturns.
But Oswal argues it works the other way. “You are not paying recurring rent, and you avoid the disruption and cost of relocating offices every five to seven years, which is a real inconvenience for employees.”
There is also the question of whether the group may eventually explore alternative structures such as a Reit, an InvIT or a separate real estate subsidiary.
At present, this is not something the firm has actively considered. There is no immediate need, Oswal said. If monetizing capital or recycling funds becomes an objective, it could be evaluated, but for now it remains an occasional discussion rather than a strategy.
That said, it remains a potential option for the future if and when it makes strategic sense, he said.
Market conditions, Puri of Anarock noted, offer several exit routes depending on asset quality. “Reits can be a potential exit option at an appropriate valuation. Other exit options that could be explored, if and when required, are strata-sale, fractional ownership or leases.”
