Inside India's Family Office Boom

As rising liquidity, global exposure, and generational transitions reshape how India's richest families deploy their capital, these offices are now redefining not just wealth preservation but the future of private investments in the country.

- BY PRINCE KARIAPPA

India's wealth landscape is undergoing a structural reset as ultrahigh-net-worth families shift from informal money management to institutionalized investment structures. Family offices, once a niche concept, are rapidly emerging as the country's new power centres of capital, driving sophisticated investment strategies, cross-border wealth management, and long-term legacy planning.

'The number of family offices in India has jumped from 45 in 2018 to close to 300 in 2024, with a combined assets under management (AUM) estimated at USD 30 billion.

According to a PwC report, family offices in India are increasingly eyeing Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Currently, around 57 per cent of Indian family offices reportedly allocate less than 10 per cent to private equity (PE) or venture capital (VC), citing limited access or risk concerns. Fintech seems to be getting the better end of deals from family offices, totaling USD 853.6 million, according to PwC.

Family offices are also going global, with Indian family offices increasingly setting up offices abroad to access international deal flow.

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

The EY-Julius report, however, also underscored that while preserving wealth within the family remains foundational to the overall thesis, families are also trying to actively diversify wealth beyond traditionally known wealth assets.

Allocations seem to be increasingly moving towards global equities, real estate, private equity, venture capital, and other forms of alternatives. Family offices are also stepping out of the country, as ultra high-net worth individuals (UHNIs) with Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) remittances rising from US 18.8 billion in 2019-20 to USD 31.7 billion in 2023-24.