Indian business family scions like it better to work with foreign firms for global exposure

Burjis Godrej, the customer support Asian development specialist at Conservis has a surname that surely makes people ask him if he is related to the Godrej family, the one that owns the Godrej Industries. He is, in fact, the son of Nadir Godrej (MD, Godrej Industries).

Similarly, when Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha Ambani worked at McKinsey & Co before joining the family business, she surely would have been the topic of many coffee break discussions that her colleagues would have had.

Lakshmi Venu, daughter of Venu Srinivasan (TVS group), Nandini Piramal, daughter of Swati and Ajay Piramal (Piramal Enterprises); Radhika Piramal, the daughter of Dilip Piramal (VIP Industries) and Anant Goenka, the son of Harsh Goenka (RPG Enterprises); all these kids belong to reputed business families of India, but what binds them is the fact that they chose to be trained in companies not belonging to their families.

There seems to be a growing appeal in the trend of working outside the family business, outside the country. While they have a lot of options to go to, they prefer global consulting companies like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture and Deloitte to be groomed for leadership. They also feel more comfortable in working at companies outside India so that they can get real-world experience and boost their learning trajectory. It also seems apt, because these scions would get special treatment at their own companies and a lot of unwanted attention if they work outside their companies but in the same county; working outside prevents this.

“Besides, the bias of being unfairly judged is removed. And, global consulting companies and banks are known for quality, speed of work and accelerated learning on assignments,” SV Nathan, senior director and chief talent officer at Deloitte in India, told ET.