Logo of Reliance Industries Ltd.
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Bengaluru: When it comes to succession planning, Indian business families are reluctant to pass on leadership positions that not only deny fresh perspectives and skill sets, but also hamper growth and innovation. Insights from Entrust Family Office, a multi-family office advising many leading business families in India, revealed that less than 50 per cent of Indian business families have a documented succession plan.
From Reliance Industries, Bharat Forge, and Raymond Group to Murugappa Group and Tata Group, the biggest business empires have faced significant succession planning issues. Entrust Family Office, which has over Rs 18,000 crore in assets and over 80 clients under advisory, has observed that even among families with formal succession plans, clearly defined timelines for leadership transition remain uncommon.
"Leadership changes in India are still largely reactive, often triggered by age-related incapacity or unforeseen events rather than planned, phased handovers," it said.
In the recent Kalyani family dispute, last week, the Bombay High Court allowed siblings Sameer Hiremath and Pallavi Swadi to amend their suit, permitting them to seek a restraint on the voting rights associated with shares they acquired from the family's core assets.
Baba Kalyani, the family patriarch, has one sister Sugandha Hiremath and brother Gaurishankar Kalyani. The son and daughter of Sugandha had filed a suit seeking partition of the Kalyani family assets.
In another family feud, property disputes in the Raymond Group led to court battles. There was a rift between Raymond Group 's Gautam Singhania and his father Vijaypat Singhania over property and control. Not just the lack of succession planning, even poorly drafted planning led to many court battles and disputes.
In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani left without a will, leading to a separation between his two sons — Mukesh and Anil. The bitter dispute between these two brothers led to the splitting of the Reliance business empire.
"In the absence of structured planning, families face risks such as ownership fragmentation, governance disputes, and erosion of enterprise value, with profitable businesses sometimes diluted or sold due to unresolved internal transitions," Entrust Family Office said.
It also added that Indian business families are undergoing a structural shift, increasingly separating ownership from management. Families are choosing to remain long-term custodians of capital, while professional management teams run day-to-day operations. The next generation, meanwhile, is focused on diversification, transformation, and building new ventures alongside legacy businesses, with nearly 80-90 per cent seeking exposure beyond the core enterprise, it noted.
"Most families recognise the importance of succession planning, and many are now beginning to translate that intent into formal structures,” said Entrust Family Office Principal Founder and Managing Director Rajmohan Krishnan.
“The real challenge lies in starting these conversations early and giving families and heirs the right structure. As India’s wealth transitions across generations, long-term success will be shaped not just by how wealth is created, but by how thoughtfully it is governed and transferred," he added.
Last year, in its report, PwC mentioned that while nine out of 10 publicly-traded companies in India are family-owned or controlled, only 63 per cent of Indian family business leaders said they have formal governance structures in place, including shareholder agreements, family constitutions and protocols, and even wills.
It called for the need to have proactive and strategic succession planning. "It promotes talent development by preparing future leaders, aids in risk management by mitigating unexpected disruptions, and aligns successors with business goals and vision," it noted.