When legacy doesn’t mean lineage

It’s a statement that reflects not resignation, but responsibility—towards shareholders, employees, and the brand he built.

Piramal’s outlook stands in contrast to Uday Kotak’s recent remarks, where the banker observed that more and more young heirs are content running family offices rather than operating businesses. “If someone has sold a business, they should be thinking about starting, buying, or building another one. Instead, I see many young people saying, ‘I’m running my family office.’ They should be creating real-world businesses,” Kotak said, lamenting a growing detachment from the operator mindset.

His son Jay Kotak, who co-heads Kotak 811 and manages conglomerate relationships at the bank, acknowledges that operator DNA still runs strong in India’s large business families. “On the margin, it’s better for next-gen leaders to be involved in operating businesses. But to each his own,” Jay tells Fortune India. He sees his own role as that of a professional, not a legacy holder.

The generational shift isn’t uniform—and that’s precisely Piramal’s point. The Indian business landscape today allows for multiple outcomes. Some successors turn founders, some remain stewards, and others step away entirely. “So many large companies which are family owned such as Dabur, Pidilite and Marico have become completely professionally managed and are doing extremely well,” says Piramal.

According to McKinsey, family-owned businesses contribute more than 75% of national GDP—one of the highest percentages in the world—and this number is expected to rise to 80–85% by 2047. Notably, between 2012 and 2022, family-owned businesses delivered shareholder returns twice as high as non-family-led firms. For the generation transitioning out, McKinsey notes, it is vital to hand over the baton with full confidence in the successor—and to seek a new purpose beyond business.

That’s precisely what Piramal has done.

“I’ll be available as an advisor whenever they [the new owners] seek my input, but I don’t intend to offer any unsolicited advice,” he says. In stepping back and handing over the reins to a professional investor, Piramal may well be showing India’s next-gen families that letting go can be its own kind of leadership because sometimes, the strongest legacies are those that live beyond the bloodline.