Time To Enable India's Own Big 4 Consultancies

India still depends on the global Big 7 of the lucrative consultancy business. That's because self-imposed curbs embedded in various professional rules stop our own talent from flourishing

- SANJEEV SANYAL

The global consulting business, worth $250-300 billion, is dominated by the Big 4 audit firms plus McKinsey, BCG and Bain. Let's call them the Big 7. While the balance sheets of these firms are opaque, estimates suggest that their revenue from consulting (excluding audit) in India alone is to the tune of $5-6 billion and is growing rapidly. Even though a lot of public attention is focused on the audit business, the consulting business is a factor of magnitude larger.

Interestingly, this is an industry where Indians thrive worldwide, including in the Big 7. Yet, there are no large Indian consultancies that can rival the Big 7. Here, we explore the factors that constrain the emergence of large Indian consultancies to compete globally. Quite apart from the economic case, this is also a national security issue. If all expertise is outsourced, the dependence can be weaponised. In 2023, for instance, it was reported that a Big 7 firm leaked confidential Australian government information to US companies, leading to multiple investigations.

The current framework in India has three constraints that perpetuate the dominance of the Big 7. The first set of challenges relate to government contracts that account for 40 percent of the market. We found that restrictive clauses prevent domestic firms from meeting the eligibility criteria. Excessive balance-sheet thresholds, for example, prevent domestic firms from even competing. Consider a January 2025 request for proposal worth ₹1.3 crore from the industries and mines department of a state government to hire management consultants. Its pre-qualification criteria required a consulting revenue of ₹21-50 crore over the last three years, between 200-300 consultants on the payroll, plus experience of having done at least five government projects worth over ₹5 crore (almost four times the project value). Such conditions make it very difficult for most Indian firms to qualify.