Rethinking the Family Office as a Strategic Institution

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India’s family offices are no longer informal financial outposts run by trusted advisors and focused primarily on wealth preservation. They are fast becoming digitally enabled, professionally managed institutions designed to achieve strategic goals—governance, growth, succession, and purpose-driven investing.

EY’s latest report, titled ‘The Indian Family Office Playbook,’ charts how Indian family offices are transitioning from custodial roles to becoming core components of enterprise and wealth strategy.

Their evolution reflects a broader trend among ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) in India: a move from tradition-bound management to data-informed decision-making, global portfolio diversification, and structured succession planning.

Professionalizing Legacy

The number of family offices in India has grown from just 45 in 2018 to nearly 300 by 2024, collectively managing assets estimated at over $30 billion.

A significant proportion of this growth comes from first-generation entrepreneurs who approach wealth with an institutional mindset. For them, the family office is not simply a vehicle to manage assets but an operating system that institutionalizes leadership, accountability, and performance.

Governance frameworks are at the center of this transformation. Families are drafting constitutions, defining decision-making rights, and setting up legal vehicles like trusts and limited liability partnerships to manage assets and succession.

According to the EY report, 59% of surveyed offices have wills or agreements in place, though fewer—just 19%—have moved business assets into shared legal entities. The trend, however, is clearly toward formalization.

The next generation of leaders is also being systematically groomed. Unlike the earlier unstructured handovers, many family offices now require younger members to gain external experience and mentorship before taking up leadership roles within the family enterprise.

Education and exposure are being integrated with family values to create continuity and a clear leadership pipeline.

Expanding Investment Horizons

In terms of capital deployment, the modern Indian family office is embracing diversification and risk-calibrated innovation. Alternative investments, including private equity (PE), venture capital (VC), and private credit—an emerging asset class involving non-bank lending—are now integral to the investment mix.

The report notes that more than half of Indian family offices surveyed allocate over 10% of their portfolio to PE and VC, with nearly a quarter exceeding the 20% mark. These investments span sectors such as fintech, healthtech, consumer platforms, and renewable energy.

Real estate remains important but is increasingly accessed through vehicles such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which offer steady yields and lower management complexity.

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), Portfolio Management Services (PMS), and boutique fund managers are also gaining traction. New regulatory developments, such as market regulator Sebi’s introduction of small and medium REITs, are expected to further democratize access to real asset income streams.

Cross-border investments are expanding through instruments such as the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which permits individuals to remit up to $250,000 annually for foreign investments.

In the first nine months of FY25 alone, such remittances totaled $22.8 billion.

International financial hubs, especially Singapore and Dubai, are favored jurisdictions, while India’s own Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) is emerging as a global investing gateway, offering regulatory and tax benefits under the International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA).

Embedding Technology and Purpose

This evolution is not merely financial, it is deeply operational and digital. Family offices are adopting secure software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms for portfolio monitoring, compliance, risk analytics, and reporting.

Despite growing digital adoption, only 20% of surveyed family offices rate their cybersecurity as resilient, according to global benchmarks from the Wharton Global Family Alliance cited in the EY report. As digital operations scale, so will the need for robust security architecture.

Equally important is professional talent. Dedicated Chief Investment Officers (CIOs), risk officers, and operational heads are becoming standard.

Many family offices also maintain investment committees comprising family members and outside experts. Hybrid and multi-family structures are being explored to gain efficiencies, access benchmarking insights, and share services.

Purpose is emerging as a central organizing principle. From women-led startups and climate-resilient infrastructure to artisan networks and affordable healthcare, Indian family offices are increasingly aligning their investments with environmental, social, and governance goals.

Younger family members, in particular, are shifting away from traditional philanthropy in favor of measurable, impact-driven strategies.

These shifts reflect a new orientation: capital is not just a store of value, but a tool for systemic change.

As India prepares for a generational handover of wealth estimated to exceed $1.5 trillion in the coming decades, family offices are poised to play a defining role in economic and institutional transformation.

No longer quiet enclaves of legacy wealth, they are becoming structured, forward-looking command centers embedded with strategic intent, digital infrastructure, and measurable impact.

They may have started as private financial structures, but in the digital era, India’s family offices are becoming case studies in modern leadership, governance, and value-driven management.