The rise and future of family offices in India

Tune into EY India’s podcast on the evolution of family offices covering succession, investment trends & future outlook for high-net-worth families in India.

Key takeaways

Family offices in India have grown significantly, (this is not EY data), driven by factors like increasing number of UHNIs, intergenerational wealth transfer, liquidity events, and regulatory advancements such as GIFT City.
Investment strategies are becoming more diversified, with increased allocations to alternative assets like private credit, venture capital, real assets, and international markets.
Key challenges include navigating complex tax and regulatory frameworks, succession planning, operational complexities, and cybersecurity risks.
Technology is reshaping family offices, with rapid adoption of SaaS platforms, AI-driven decision-making, advanced MIS systems, and secure digital infrastructure to manage complex, multi-asset portfolios efficiently.
The future of family offices in India is likely to be characterized by global expansion and, hybrid models, with governance and succession planning becoming central to long-term success.

Family offices are now balancing tradition with innovation, and preservation with growth. The next generation is driving this change by being more adventurous, globally focused, and impact oriented. Technology, governance, and sustainability will define the next chapter for family offices in India.

Surabhi Marwah

Partner, People Advisory Services, and Private Client Services Co-Leader, EY India

For your convenience, full text transcript of this podcast is available below.

Pallavi

Hello and welcome to this episode of EY India Insights podcast. I'm your host, Pallavi, and today we have the privilege of speaking with Surabhi Marwah, Partner of People Advisory Services at EY India.
Surabhi brings extensive experience of working with family businesses and leads their transformation journey at EY. Today, in this episode, we shall explore the fascinating evolution of family offices in India, the trends shaping their strategies and what lies ahead in the next decade.
Surabhi, welcome to the podcast and thank you for joining us today.

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi, thank you so very much for having me here. It's a great pleasure to be here and discuss this very dynamic and important topic. As the Private Tax Co-leader, also of the firm, this is a topic which is very, very close to my heart. So, I'm very glad to answer all your questions today.

Pallavi

Thank you, Surabhi. To start off, how have family offices in India evolved over the years and what factors are driving this growth?

Surabhi Marwah

Well, a lot of changes have been happening over the last couple of years. If you see, and it's part of some of our reports as well, over the past decade, family offices in India have really transformed from informal setups into highly structured professional entities. If I go back to, say, 2018, there were just about 45 odd family offices in India.
Now fast forward to 2024 because we have the latest information from that. And this number of about 45 has grown to nearly 300. And I'm sure between this time of 2024-25, there would have been a growth of a few more. Now, what's driving this surge? 45 to 300 in just a few years?
A few key factors. First, there's a massive intergenerational wealth transfer underway. It's about 1.3 trillion USD. And that kind of money is expected to change hands in the next 10-odd years. The second thing, which is key, is the rise of liquidity events. Every day we hear about new IPOs, we hear about mergers. We hear about private equity exit. And all of these are unlocking a significant amount of wealth. Add to this the success of first-generation entrepreneurs, who are now looking for sophisticated ways to manage and preserve their wealth. And finally, platforms like the GIFT City are making it easier for Indian families to invest globally with regulatory and tax advantages.
So, in a nutshell, it is not one particular factor that's driving this. But maybe a confluence of a large number of factors that have actually come together and married each other very beautifully. And that has led to this key change or this growth trajectory that you now see.

Pallavi

According to you, what are the key trends shaping the investment strategies of the Indian family offices today?

Surabhi Marwah

The family offices of today are very much like the Gen Z or Alpha of today. They are far more adventurous and far more diversified. The family offices are also far more diversified in their investment approaches; there is a clear shift towards alternative assets. Things like private credit, AIFs (Alternate Investment Funds), long short strategies, etc. Private equity and venture capital are also coming out as big favorites, especially in investments in sectors like tech, infrastructure and consumer goods. Many family offices, if you see, are allocating 10% to 20% of their portfolio to these kinds of high-growth areas.
The other thing is that global investments are on the rise too, with families using routes like the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), offshore offices, GIFT City, AIFs to access international markets. And, I'm adding to this, let's not forget real assets. Things like REITs, InvITs and yield funds are also becoming very popular. There's massive interest in impact investing, especially among the younger family offices who want their wealth to reflect their values. I think from a mindset of typically preservation of wealth, it's grown, it's moved to growth of wealth. And that has led to your question on what is the change, why are there so many? And to your second question, what are the things that are changing?
It's a lot about the mindset change and the fact that people are more adventurous, they want to take more risk. And they are much more educated about all of what is available. They want to really grow and not move out of the safe zone of preservation.

Pallavi

Thank you, Surabhi. As we have discussed the evolution and trends, pivoting towards challenges, what are the biggest challenges that family offices face currently and how are they adapting or addressing these?

Surabhi Marwah

That’s a very interesting question. We were doing some events in the last couple of days, on the launch of our playbook. While I was supposed to be giving a little bit of a brief of the playbook, I opened this question to the audience. Many people put their hands up and answered this question.
We also knew this from our survey report, but the answer was unanimous. They all said that one of the biggest challenges is navigating the complex and ever-changing regulatory landscape, especially when it comes to tax laws, cross-border investments. It's something that has put them in a loop. And that's something that they are always looking for answers for.
The second major thing is succession planning. Many families are still figuring out how to balance legacy with the aspirations of the next gen, who was much more adventurous. Like I said, much more risk taking. I would say, operational complexity is also a concern, particularly when you're managing diverse portfolios across many geographies and I talked about international exposure as one of the areas, high-growth areas as well. And of course, cybersecurity is a growing risk.
Now, to tackle these challenges. Which is your second question around adapting. So to tackle these challenges, family offices are bringing in a lot of professional advisors. They are setting up robust governance frameworks, and they're also adopting a lot of legal structures, maybe trusts and others. I've seen a lot of family offices investing in secure digital platforms, leveraging GIFT City for regulatory ease and global access as well.
So I think, in a nutshell, yes, the biggest one would be the complex web of changing tax laws and the fact that there is not one particular law that applies to family offices because they are not recognized as a one separate institution for the purpose of our tax and regulatory laws and, yes, to adapt to them. Professionals are coming in there. They are looking at various options and what can be done within the plethora of laws and available guidance.

Pallavi

Surabhi, as you know, no conversation is complete without technology. So how has technology transformed the operation and strategies of family offices in India?

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi, as you said, you can't have any conversation or a podcast without talking about the big T word, which is technology. Of course, like in any other sector, it's playing a very huge role in modernizing family offices as well. Many of them are moving to SaaS platforms that streamline everything from portfolio management to compliance.
AI and advanced analytics are helping them make smarter investment decisions. Gen AI tools are starting to simplify access to complex financial data. Cybersecurity, like I said, is a top priority with more offices building incident response plans, and training both staff and family members. Overall, technology is making family offices more agile, transparent, and efficient, especially as younger, tech savvy generations step into leadership roles.
I think a guest at one of our events said something very valid. He said that India has this great ability to leapfrog, and we are, you would be happy to know that our adoption of technology is superb. So very quickly, family offices have understood the need of the hour and from, say, Excel, they have moved to very advanced MIS systems, realizing that if they want to get into different types of asset allocations, want to also have international exposure, want to set up operations in different countries or the GIFT (City), they have to be very agile and they have to have the right tech, the right knowledge, the right MIA systems.
Technology has therefore become as important as the money that family offices have for investments.

Pallavi

Thank you, Surabhi. Our final question to you would be, what do you see as the future of family offices in India over the next decade?

Surabhi Marwah

There's going to be massive growth, especially looking at the numbers that we spoke about, 45 to 300 in just a few years. And, and these numbers say a lot, Pallavi, because family offices are typically coming out of very large amounts of wealth. So, it's not something that is run of the mill.
These kinds of numbers speak a lot. I think they're going to become global tech-enabled and very impact-driven institutions as we go along. You'll probably see a lot more hybrid models that combine the benefits of a single-family office that caters to one family and multi-family offices that look after several families. I think the global expansion, in terms of investments, etc., will continue.
More families will look to set up offshore entities and invest internationally. They will also look at IFSCA and GIFT City more. ESG and sustainability will become central to their investment strategies because, as we spoke, this being very important to the next gen, which is very attuned to these values.
So ESG, sustainability, philanthropy are the themes that they talk about. Governance and succession planning is something that the next gen leaders look at as a must-have.
This question that earlier people would not want to address was mortality and how wealth would be transferred and who would be my successor. These are very routine questions now because everybody understands that preparation for these means success of the business over several generations.
So, I think the key theme would be balancing tradition with innovation and preservation and legacy with growth.

Pallavi

Thank you, Surabhi, for sharing such valuable insights. It's been a pleasure discussing with you the evolution, challenges and the future of family offices in India.

Surabhi Marwah

Thank you so much, Pallavi. It was lovely to be here.

Pallavi

Thank you. That brings us to the end of this episode of EY India Insights podcast. Thank you to all our listeners. For more insights, please do visit our website www.ey.com. Don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned for our upcoming episodes. Until then, this is Pallavi signing off.

Presenters

Surabhi Marwah

Partner, People Advisory Services, and Private Client Services Co-Leader, EY India

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Duration

11m 49s

Old roots, new routes: The evolving landscape of family offices in India

Family offices in India are evolving into strategic hubs for governance and innovation as wealth transfer is set to exceed INR108 lakh crore.

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The rise and future of family offices in India

Key takeaways

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Surabhi Marwah

Pallavi

Presenters

Surabhi Marwah

Old roots, new routes: The evolving landscape of family offices in India

Family offices in India are evolving into strategic hubs for governance and innovation as wealth transfer is set to exceed INR108 lakh crore.