Forget IIT — This university has produced more of India’s wealthiest business families than any other

The University of Mumbai has produced more leaders of India’s most valuable family businesses than any other university, according to the 2026 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses List. 

The university has 27 alumni among the leaders featured in the list. That is 10 more than last year. The University of Delhi comes next with 19 alumni, followed by the University of Calcutta with 17.

The numbers are important because the list covers India’s 300 most valuable family businesses, which together are worth around USD 1.46 trillion, or INR 138 lakh crore. If they were treated as a country, their combined value would be similar to the economy of the world’s 18th-largest country by GDP. 

Mumbai University leads the list 

The University of Mumbai’s alumni include some of the biggest names in Indian business.

Among them are Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group; Niraj Bajaj of the Bajaj Group; Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi of Waaree Group; and Mofatraj P. Munot, among others.

Kumar Mangalam Birla heads the Aditya Birla Group, which Hurun ranks as India’s second most valuable family business, with a value of around INR 8.14 lakh crore. 

Niraj Bajaj is part of the Bajaj family, whose business group ranks fourth with a value of around INR 7.7 lakh crore. 

The list brings together business leaders from very different industries, from traditional manufacturing and finance to newer areas such as clean energy. 

The top universities include the University of Mumbai, University of Delhi, University of Calcutta, University of Pennsylvania, Gujarat University, Savitribai Phule Pune University and MIT. 

Gujarat University, Savitribai Phule Pune University and MIT are tied with five alumni each. That is quite different from the popular image of IITs as the main route to India’s business success.

The Hurun data is looking at people who lead or inherit large family businesses, rather than founders of technology startups. For that group, traditional commerce and other older universities have played a much bigger role. 

Many of these business leaders studied in India first and later went abroad for an MBA or another postgraduate degree. 

Why Mumbai has an advantage 

The city has been India’s financial and commercial centre for generations. Its colleges have also had a long connection with the country’s business families.

Colleges such as Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, HR College of Commerce and Economics and Jai Hind College have educated generations of students from trading and business families. 

Sydenham College, which was founded in 1913, has had industrialists such as Niranjan Hiranandani of the Hiranandani Group and Dilip Piramal of VIP Industries among its alumni. 

Over the years, it has also produced bankers, chartered accountants and people who went on to hold important positions in Mumbai’s financial world. 

For much of the 20th century, Sydenham was considered one of Asia’s leading commerce colleges. 

For families running businesses, studying commerce, finance and trade close to home made sense. The next generation could learn the basics of business before eventually taking over the family company. 

That pattern has continued over generations.

Mumbai is also home to the most family businesses

According to the Hurun list, Mumbai is the headquarters of 95 of the 300 family businesses featured in the report. That is four more than last year. The city is also home to 24 of the top 100 first-generation businesses.

So, the University of Mumbai’s lead is not happening in isolation. The university is located in the same city that has remained at the centre of India’s financial and business activity for decades.

UPenn shows a new path for India’s business families 

The University of Pennsylvania, meanwhile, shows how the education choices of younger business families are changing. UPenn is the highest-ranked foreign university for undergraduate studies, with nine alumni, up three from last year.

Its alumni include Nisaba Godrej of Godrej Industries and Sudarshan Venu of the TVS Group. TVS is ranked as India’s most valuable automobile and auto components family business, with a value of around INR 1.42 lakh crore. 

The university is home to the Wharton School, one of the world’s best-known business schools. Increasingly, some Indian business families are sending their children abroad for their undergraduate degrees, rather than waiting until the MBA stage.

For older generations, studying abroad was often something that came after a degree in India. For some younger members of families such as the Godrejs and Venus, overseas education is now starting much earlier. 

Harvard takes the lead for postgraduate studies 

The picture changes when Hurun looks at postgraduate education. At that level, Harvard University comes first, with 14 alumni among the family business leaders on the list. Its alumni include Niraj Bajaj and Anand Mahindra. The University of Mumbai comes second with six alumni.

The University of Michigan and IIM Ahmedabad are next, tied with five alumni each. This suggests a familiar path for many members of India’s business families.

They often begin their education in India, sometimes in Mumbai, and later move to a foreign university or a leading Indian business school for higher studies. They then return to take on bigger roles in their family businesses.

India’s business success story goes beyond IITs, startups and technology. For decades, traditional universities and commerce colleges have helped shape leaders of some of the country’s biggest family businesses across sectors. Hurun found that 208 of the 300 families are now led by their second generation, while new entrepreneurs such as the Adanis, Poonawallas and Nayars are building new business empires.