Only 36% of India's wealthy families have succession roadmaps

By Amara Osei

Only 36% of India's wealthy families have a succession roadmap, according to Custodians of Change: Next Generation of Indian Wealth, leaving most without a formal plan for leadership and ownership transitions.

The report finds succession is increasingly viewed as an ongoing process involving preparation, alignment and continuity, rather than a one-time transfer of ownership or leadership. Its low proportion of formal plans suggests many families have yet to institutionalize that approach.

Why do informal succession plans matter?

The absence of a documented arrangement can leave a family without clear answers to three transition questions, according to the report: who will lead the business, how responsibilities will be distributed, and how major decisions will be taken.

Informal understandings can also leave room for disagreement among family members, the report said. The risk is particularly acute when ownership and management responsibilities change across generations.

The study draws on qualitative conversations and interviews with family business leaders and wealth custodians across generations. The wealth represented ranges from approximately ₹100 crore to ₹10,000 crore.

"India's challenge was no longer just creating wealth but preserving it, giving it purpose and passing it forward responsibly," said Sreepriya NS, Co-Founder and CEO of Entrust Family Office.

How are governance structures changing?

Family businesses are moving gradually toward more structured governance, according to the report. They increasingly rely on committees, professional advisers and formal governance structures.

Joint decision-making involving family members and professional management is the most common model in the study. The head of the family continues to retain final say in some cases, the report found.

Governance preferences vary across generations. Founders generally favor family-led structures supported by advisers. Second-generation leaders show the strongest preference for professional management with family oversight. Third-generation respondents increasingly favor hybrid models combining family stewardship with professional expertise, according to the report.

How much influence does the next generation have?

The report found a sharp generational pattern in the next generation's role:

• Among first-generation families, 36% said the next generation already had meaningful influence over decisions or co-led specific areas of the business.
• That proportion fell to 18% among second-generation families.
• Among third-generation families, 54% reported meaningful influence over decisions or co-leadership of specific business areas.

The pattern reverses among families where the next generation has no current involvement in decision-making:

• 18% of first-generation families reported no current next-generation involvement.
• The share rose to 36% among second-generation families.
• It then fell to 8% among third-generation families.

Second-generation families record both the lowest meaningful-influence figure, at 18%, and the highest no-involvement figure, at 36%. Third-generation families post the strongest participation and the lowest absence of involvement, at 54% and 8%, respectively, according to the report.

What are wealth custodians changing?

A separate 54% of respondents said succession is increasingly being treated as ongoing planning rather than inheritance by default, the report found. Another 68% said today's wealth custodians are more likely to take a holistic view of family wealth than previous generations.

The findings describe broader attitudes toward succession, but not universal formal planning. The report says many families have yet to institutionalize an ongoing approach, even as they rely more heavily on advisers, committees and professional managers.

For families still working without a roadmap, the near-term test is whether those structures produce documented decisions before ownership or leadership changes hands. The report shows more structured management taking hold, while formal succession planning remains confined to 36%.