India's largest conglomerates have embarked on a similar succession strategy — Continuity with Change — whether it is Reliance, Piramal, Birla, or JSW as the next-gen takes over clearly defined roles in these large business houses.

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Mukesh Ambani, head of one of India’s largest conglomerates, announced the induction of the next-gen of the promoter group into the board of directors at mothership Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in the 46th Annual General Meeting a few days ago.

While talking about succession planning Ambani emphasised 'continuity with change'. During the AGM, Ambani said, "Continuity with Change is the signature tune of all dynamic organisations. This tune attains its highest creativity when Continuity joyfully welcomes Change, and Change respectfully learns from Continuity. I assure you that the combination of the experience of senior leaders and the ambition of new leaders will script newer and more exciting chapters in Reliance’s ever-growing book of achievements."

The plan to induct Isha, Akash, and Anant Ambani at the top level has been manifesting over the years.

Last year, some major announcements were made to formalise the succession plan at RIL, while the next-gen had been involved in several verticals of the group, a focused leadership was defined with Isha taking over as the leader of Reliance Retail, Akash taking over as the chairman of Reliance Jio, and Anant becoming the leader of the energy business, including the new energy vertical that the group has big ambitions in.

The culture of the previous generation mentoring and sharing their wisdom, and business acumen with the next generation of leaders is well entrenched in the Indian ethos of family-run businesses. Ambani's words on continuity with change resonate with India’s other top conglomerates as well.

In the case of Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla continues to be the leader at the helm but Aryaman and Ananya have been inducted at the apex decision-making body of the group, Aditya Birla Management Corporation Private Ltd (ABMCPL), to take on a decision-making role. Both held non-executive director positions in the group’s listed companies Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) and Grasim.

Some of the new businesses have been independently started by the next generation. Ananya Birla founded Svatantra Microfin in 2012. Aryaman Birla has taken strides in some of the new businesses like incubating D2C platform TMRW and founded hospitality business Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality.

The Piramal Group, under the leadership of Ajay Piramal, is ahead in the succession, which has matured over the years. The clear separation of the businesses was formalised only last year with the demerger of Piramal Pharma from Piramal Enterprises, headed by Nandini Piramal. Anand Piramal heads the group’s financial services and realty businesses. Nandini and Anand have the leadership of separate businesses while being on the board of the flagship company, Piramal Enterprises.

JSW Group's scion Parth Jindal has a meaningful role in all businesses while Sajjan Jindal is the leader of the group and also the flagship company of JSW Steel. Parth leads JSW Cement, and Paints and holds a non-executive director position at JSW Energy. He also heads JSW Steel’s US operations.

The succession strategy is similar across these large conglomerates as the next-gen gets groomed and mentored under the leadership of the dynamic promoters who built and ran successful businesses over many decades.

As the next generation assumes more important roles in the businesses the top honchos will be ready to pass on the baton around the turn of this decade, ushering the Indian conglomerates into the next phase of growth.

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