If your title is Aggarwal, Gupta, Patel or Jain – then there are high chances you are or maybe related to a billionaire.
‘2025 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses List’ has revealed that these surnames are running some of the most successful family businesses in the country.
While the Ambani, Adani, Birla and Jindal families top several charts, it is the other north Indian families that have performed well, according to the report. The threshold to qualify for the 2025 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses List is Rs 1,100 cr.
The Ambani family has retained the top spot for the second consecutive year with businesses valued at Rs 28.2 lakh crore, which equates to a twelfth of India’s GDP, the Hurun India report said. The Kumar Mangalam Birla family reached second spot with Rs 6.5 lakh crore, and the Jindal family entered the third place with a valuation of Rs 5.7 lakh crore.
As per the report, for the second consecutive year, the Adani family has topped the list of the 20 ‘Most Valuable First-Generation Indian Family Businesses’, with businesses worth Rs 14 lakh crore. The Poonawalla family, which manages the Serum Institute of India (SII), is second, with Rs 2.3 lakh crore.
Characteristics of an Indian billionaire family
Indian billionaires come from a select 45 cities, but the majority are from Mumbai (91), followed by 62 from NCR and 25 from Kolkata.
Another key trait of these family businesses is that most of them sell physical products. Yes, you heard that right. Despite the boom of online shopping and business flourishing through websites or social media, these families are churning the market in their favour through physical trade. 89% of the companies in the list sell physical products, while 11% sell services.
Physical and industrial products lead the chart
On the business front, 40% of these companies are consumer facing, with 49% operating in the b2b space. Around 11% cater to both. Founder and Chief Researcher, Hurun India, Anas Rahman Junaid explained why successful companies are consumer-facing.
“It’s no surprise that about 40% of the companies on our list are consumer-facing brands, underlining their ubiquitous presence in households across India. This blend of heritage and forward-thinking by family brands has shaped not only our economy but also our daily habits and cultural moments,” he stated in the report.
On the other hand, industrial products lead the pack with 48 companies, with their average value standing at Rs 16,400 crore. The automobile and auto components sector has 29 companies with the highest average value in the top three at Rs 52,320 crore.
It is closely followed by chemicals and petrochemicals, featuring 27 companies with an average value of Rs 29,933 crore.
The ‘prevalent’ families on the list
There are 11 surnames that have appeared dominantly on the list. Of these, the Agarwal and Gupta families jointly top the list, with 12 families each. Leading names include Anil Agarwal’s Hindustan Zinc (Rs 2.6 Lakh crore) and Anil Rai Gupta’s Havells India (Rs 97,400 crore), respectively.
They are followed by 10 families with Patel surname, headlined by Pankaj Patel’s Zydus Lifesciences (Rs 1.1 lakh crore). The Jain family name appears across nine businesses, including Vivek Jain’s Inox GFL Group (Rs 57,600 crore).
Then come Mehta, Goenka, and Shah families with each having five entries on the list. The key companies they lead include Torrent Pharmaceuticals, FirstSource Solutions, and Fine Organic Industries, respectively.
Other prominent surnames on the list are Singh, Rao, and Doshi, each appearing across four families.
Institutes shaping India’s leading family businesses
University of Mumbai tops the list of universities these families have preferred over the years. It is followed by University of Delhi, University of Calcutta. University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the US are at the 4th and 5th spot respectively.
As for the post-graduate courses, Harvard Business School in the US leads the chart with 12 entrants, followed by Wharton School with 4 entrants. University of Delhi is fifth on the list and all the top four positions are occupied by the universities in the US.