Fortune India - August 2018

THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS: We broke up the cover theme, into three parts. In the first part, we decided to take a close look at how Indian business groups—are future-proofing themselves against the background of what happened at one of the world’s most-admired conglomerates, General Electric, which saw a dramatic meltdown recently. Are there Indian versions of the GE collapse waiting to happen? Are Indian business groups strong and structurally sound enough to withstand the vagaries of competition and the risks of diversification? Or is there a need to reinvent the conglomerates model which many feel is broken?
Second important trend we discuss in the context of the future is the way Indian business families are choosing to deploy their surplus wealth. Family offices are emerging as a major tool by which India’s uber rich are attempting to increase their wealth. Many prominent business families have now set up robust family offices, with the next generation managing them, and are co-investing either with other family offices or even with angel investors who guide them on attractive investment options in the startup ecosystem. Many family offices are even open to the idea of taking over entire companies and running them. But the new-look family offices are much more than mere investors for families. They do a plethora of other things and are emerging as a key element of the Indian business landscape.
The third, and equally important, element in the discussion on the future of Indian business relates to whether India can emerge as the next big innovation hub. From clean fuel to artificial intelligence, from Royal Dutch Shell to Microsoft, India is becoming the chosen laboratory for a number of innovations which can power businesses in the future.
Other interesting read is story on how Indian VFX is coming of age, with companies like Prime Focus and actor Shah Rukh Khan’s redchillies.vfx emerging as important Indian names in the global entertainment space.