Indian Family Offices Enter a More Institutional Phase
Recent research from Julius Baer and EY reveals a significant increase in the number of Indian family offices, driven by intergenerational wealth transfer, liquidity from listings and exits, and the growing complexity of multi-generational wealth management.
Offshore allocation is becoming a more deliberate part of portfolio construction, driven by diversification, governance, and long-term capital preservation rather than simple return-seeking alone.
Key Themes in Cross-Border Investing
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Commercial Real Estate: Patient capital, flexibility, and a willingness to underwrite complexity can create an advantage over traditional institutional investors.
The sector continues to face a large refinancing burden, with opportunities emerging where refinancing stress is forcing recapitalisations, rescue financing, preferred equity structures, or discounted acquisitions.
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The Small-Business Succession Wave: Indian family offices can benefit from the ownership transition of small and medium-size businesses in the US, with opportunities for consolidation, professionalisation, and digital upgrading.
More than one million firms may be viable candidates for sale or transfer, representing up to $5 trillion in enterprise value.
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Digital Infrastructure and Technology: Family offices can participate in this theme through specialist funds, co-investments, structured credit, or partnerships with operators in data centers, fiber, and adjacent infrastructure.
Exposure can come through assets backed by durable demand, rather than speculative technology bets.
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Healthcare and Life Sciences: Indian investors can combine sector familiarity with global partnerships, focusing on diagnostics, medical devices, contract manufacturing, healthcare services, and companies that can combine Indian operating capabilities with overseas intellectual property.
This is an attractive area for cross-border capital, especially where Indian strategic know-how can travel well.
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Venture Capital and Private Equity: Family offices should approach these areas with discipline rather than fashion, focusing on high-conviction managers, co-investments, and sectors where the family office can bring insight or networks.
Private equity has moved into a tougher environment where returns depend less on easy multiple expansion and more on disciplined entry pricing, operational value creation, leadership, liquidity management, and the effective use of AI.
A More Strategic Global Role
Global investing for Indian family offices is no longer only about diversification for its own sake. It is becoming a strategic exercise in matching long-duration capital with markets and situations where flexibility is rewarded.
The advantage of a family office is not scale alone, but the ability to move patiently, think across cycles, and stay invested where short-term capital often cannot.
About the Author
Dr. Saji Salam, MBBS, MBA, is a management consultant with extensive experience advising Fortune 500 organizations in the United States.
He is also the founder of Careventures Capital, a Houston-based private equity and advisory firm.
Contact: saji@careventurescapital.com