Businessmen the world over may be handing over the reins to professionals, but for Indian entrepreneurs, retaining control over the business and passing it on to the next generation is still the driving passion.
This is a key finding of a new global study on family businesses by consultancy firm Grant Thornton.
The study says that as many as 46 per cent of Indian businessmen feel that their successor should come from within the family. In comparison, only 22 per cent of North Americans and 24 per cent of Europeans subscribe to this view.
As many as 57 per cent of the 185 Indian businessmen covered in the study thought that the shares in a company should be transferred only to family members.
In contrast, a majority of respondents in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong said that the transfer of shares should not be restricted to family members.
Further, 51 per cent of the Indian respondents said that family members are entitled to differential pay arrangements over other employees. This is substantially higher than the Asian average of 31 per cent.
