India's "family" problem

India's "family" problem

From Daybreak by The Ken

May 25, 2026 · 14 min · Episode 757

About this episode

The episode explores the influence of India's family conglomerates on the economy and compares it to historical precedents in South Korea and Indonesia.

From airports to cricket broadcasts, India's family conglomerates keep turning up everywhere. According to the 2024 Barclays-Hurun report, one family's wealth alone equals nearly one-tenth of everything India produces in a year. India is running a version of the economic playbook that South Korea and Indonesia once ran — protect your conglomerates and let them do the building. South Korea came through it, at enormous political and economic cost. Indonesia's economy contracted by 13% in a single year. India is somewhere earlier in that story. In this episode of Daybreak, host Snigdha Sharma asks which ending we are heading toward. Listen to the episode on Adani's think tank here . Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

People in this episode

Host: Snigdha Sharma

Topics covered

  • family conglomerates
  • economic playbook
  • wealth distribution
  • business news
  • India's economy
  • political cost

Keywords

  • family conglomerates
  • India
  • economic playbook
  • wealth
  • Barclays-Hurun report
  • Adani
  • South Korea
  • Indonesia

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Barclays-Hurun, Adani

Places: India, South Korea, Indonesia

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