How some families took their businesses global

Over the years, some smaller Indian family businesses have established strong business ties internationally

Indian companies going global is not a phenomenon. Over the years, there have been three distinct waves in this direction. In the 1970s and 1980s, a few business groups like Aditya Birla, the Lohias and L.N. Mittal set foot overseas. The second wave was in the latter half of 1990s after India's economic liberalization. During this phase, the Tatas, Mahindras and the Godrej family too aggressively acquired overseas companies. Finally, in the 2000s, technology-driven companies like Infosys, Wipro and NIIT expanded.

Additionally, in the past decade, there has been a significant shift in overseas investment destinations (OIDs). In the first half, overseas investments were focused on resource-rich nations. In the latter half, overseas investments were directed toward nations offering greater tax advantages.

The above successes happened despite the slowdown of the global economy due to Covid-19. Government policies and reforms helped in boosting overseas direct investment (ODI).

For example, the government reduced restrictions on Indian companies investing overseas by removing the cap on raising funding through the pledge of shares, local assets and foreign assets. Finally, India has been instrumental in signing various memoranda of understanding (MOUS) and free trade agreements (FTAS).

While the above is largely applicable to large business houses, the presence of medium-scale family businesses was virtually nil till the early 2000s. But since then, a small group of lesserknown family businesses have established strong business ties with foreign shores.

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