How India Inc needs to transform

IN THE CLASSIC fairy tale, the evil queen famously asked, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" It's a question that transcends fairy tales-echoed in classrooms, debated on sports fields, and whispered in boardrooms.

- ALPESH SHAH, CHAARVI GUPTA

Today, the corporate world asks a modern version of the same: Which ownership modelis truly the best? The answer, backed by BCG's deep dive into 500+ of India's top companies (Nifty 500) and start-ups, is clear: there is no single winning model. Instead, context is everything, each ownership type-public sector undertakings (PSUs), family-run businesses, start-ups, institutional corporates, and multinational corporations (MNCs)-performs best when aligned with its sectoral environment.

Family businesses thrive in trust-driven sectors like real estate, healthcare, and mining, where legacy, long-term orientation, and deep local ties offer competitive advantage. PSUs dominate capital-intensive, policy-aligned sectors-energy, utilities, and banking-where scale and compliance trump speed. Institutional corporates lead in execution-heavy industries like information technology and communications, where governance discipline, execution rigour, and operational scalability are vital. Start-ups lead in consumer tech and fintech-fast-paced innovation-driven domains, but are nearly absent in regulated, infrastructure-heavy domains. MNCs excel in premium, brandled categories like consumer goods, yet struggle in sectors demanding high policy sensitivity or local agility.

While India Inc is firing on all engines, one thing is clear-yesterday's playbook will not work for tomorrow. India Inc must transform to secure India's rightful global standing.