The Indian business family is significantly different than the old-time and is extremely similar to the social system that it is a part of. Indian families are increasingly becoming nuclei, shrinking in size, and becoming more diverse.

After more than 400 years since its founding in the form of a joint-stock company, family-owned enterprises remain the most widespread type of business organization around the globe. In India, the country, more than 80 percent of the companies are owned by family members.

If they operate with an intense interplay between the family and the company, the dynamic changes in these businesses reflect the transformation that the family system is experiencing in India.

The past was when Indian family businesses were at the forefront of conservatism and traditionalism.

Because of their wealth and strict nature of business in most of the time following Independence, They were resistant to change and unwilling to accept anything new to their lives. Marriages were planned, children were arranged, and inheritances and the company were managed according to the rules and regulations clearly stated.

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The present Indian business family is quite different from the past and is quite similar to the culture within which it functions. Indian families are increasingly becoming nuclei, shrinking in size, and becoming more diverse. Family members do not stay together and have distinct characteristics. Inter-caste marriages and inter-community marriages being quite popular, the large Indian family is displaying an increasingly sophisticated appearance than it has ever. The trend is spreading all over India. Recently released information of the Sample Registration System (SRS) for 2019 shows that villages in India’s rural areas have fewer children.

These changes are also evident within business families, who now show behaviors that may have been considered unimaginable 30 years ago. The big change occurred from the 1980s to the ’90s when a new generation was born into several major business families. Their attitudes were shaped during the post-independence era, and they were driven by ambitions that were different from their parents’ enthusiasm.

When Indigo was founded by co-founder Rakesh Gangwal who graduated through IIT Kharagpur in India to Air France in Paris, and later US Air in the United States was a symbol of the new Indian executive looking for global recognition, the heirs of Indian business in many instances chose the opposite route. They attended universities across the globe but then returned to India to try to establish businesses that could compete globally. Many failed and floundered. Some were successful, like Bajaj, Reliance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Apollo Tyres, and TVs. The motivation was the same — individualism and the desire to prove their own identity.

The result was the acceptance of family businesses. The unpopular member could no longer be left in the outskirts of the company and must be allowed to function within the family structure due to the risk isolated existence could pose. Many family businesses ended in disarray after a rebel member changed their sides. In 1998 Raasi Cement founder BV Raju was a shareholder with an ownership stake of 32 percent in the company he created 20 years ago but failed to stop a takeover bid made by India Cements (ICL) because it was not known to him that two years earlier the third of his brothers-in-law, NKP Raju was already transferred his four percent stake in the company to ICL.

In general, the notion that not everyone in the family is committed to a unifying cause has started to gain traction, even though every business family has its different approach. In the case of Eicher, one of the top companies in the 1990s, Vikram Lal left the position of Chairman in 1997 while elevating Subodh Bhargava to the position and establishing the board with the power to make strategic decisions. One of the most significant ones was the disposal of its flagship tractor business in 2005.

However, it is true that the Lal family, valued at more than $4.4 billion, as per the most recent Forbes ranking, is not a new phenomenon. Siddharth Lal, who was just in his 20s, pleaded over two years for the opportunity to transform the struggling Royal Enfield in 2000 when other executives in the top positions had decided to shutter the company. He was able to get his way and transform the struggling company into an international brand. His mother, Anita Lal, set up the luxurious home and clothing chain Good Earth, currently run by their daughter Simran.

In contrast, at Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal is still Chairman, guiding the company’s direction with Gopal Vittal serving as CEO for the past nine years. The business’s professionalization is similar but with one major difference: Mittal remains in charge thirty years later after Bharti Airtel got the first license to operate. At 65, he’s a lot older than the age-in-the-80s Vikram Lal. However, Lal has stepped down from an active part in the company while in his 50s. In the meantime, Mittal’s kids, too, have pursued their interests and have not shown any interest in becoming an integral part of its business.