Fund structures are gaining popularity among wealthy individuals in India as optimum structures to help with wealth planning, investments, and tax management. Family offices are viewing GIFT City, India’s first international financial services centre (“IFSC”), for the purpose of facilitating global investments in a structured manner. Continue Reading IFSCA Relaxes Rules for Family Investment Funds in GIFT City

Unlocking Offshore Opportunities for Indian HNIs and Family Offices under the new Overseas Investment Regime

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Christopher Columbus

Columbus’s expeditions in the late 14th century ushered in a period of exploration for the modern world. This has been aptly described as the ‘Age of Discovery’. Centuries later, the allure of offshore opportunities continues to enchant and has grown multi-fold. Today, these opportunities need not be sought out by deploying a flotilla, but require you to simply navigate certain regulatory and global banking channels.Continue Reading Unlocking Offshore Opportunities for Indian HNIs and Family Offices under the new Overseas Investment Regime

SEBI Directive on Promoter Group

In April 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a directive (SEBI Directive) to the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI) and some of its members on ways in which IPO bound companies could seek exemptions in relation to ‘promoter group’ disclosures in IPO offer documents.

In addition to introducing a further layer of complexity to the process of taking a company public, the SEBI Directive has reignited discussions on the relevance and significance of ‘promoter group’ as a concept.Continue Reading SEBI Directive on Promoter Group: Another spanner in the works?

Promoter reclassification - Family feud An area of concern

The Indian business landscape mainly comprises of family run businesses. Keeping in mind the close-knit joint family culture in the country, Indian regulators have been particularly cautious of family members owning and controlling a business together. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has, in Regulation 2(1)(pp) of the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, given a broad definition of “promoter group”, which includes any immediate relatives of the promoter and entities where such relatives have more than 20% stake. Being a member of the promoter group of a listed company entails rigorous disclosure and compliance obligations under various SEBI regulations. In fact, SEBI has in its Consultative Paper dated November 23, 2020, made a noting that there is a need for further clarification under Regulation 31 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (LODR), with regard to disclosing names of persons in promoter/ promoter group who hold even ‘Nil’ shareholding in the listed company.
Continue Reading Promoter reclassification – Family feud: An area of concern

Blog Image_Why Family Offices need to think beyond money

The Rockefellers are quite possibly the most well-known industrialist family in modern history, whose family name is synonymous with staggering wealth and power. Starting in 1882, the Rockefellers set up an office of trained professionals to handle their wealth. Although never formally called a “family office”, this idea was the seed that gave rise to the concept in modern times as several wealthy families began to follow suit.
Continue Reading Why Family Offices need to think beyond money: The importance of Family Governance – Part 1

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

–  Anonymous

Philanthropists the world over have been inspired by this simple but powerful statement, and have evolved from undertaking traditional notions of charity to philanthropy and now more recently, towards impact investing.

Impact investing bridges the gap between pure charity and donations for social, environmental and other causes, and pure investment aimed only at financial gain. As the world and, in particular, India, braces itself to battle increasing demand but diminishing resources, the deployment of monies in a manner that helps solve societal problems and conserve resources is not a luxury, but an urgent necessity.

Impact investing is an idea whose day has come. Mahatma Gandhi believed that the rich should be custodians of their wealth for the benefit of society, leading to a more egalitarian world. In this article, we explore why Indian family offices – being custodians of family wealth – should embrace impact investing that embodies this Gandhian philosophy. In doing so, they will not only contribute to society but also extend family legacies beyond the board room.

Impact Investing

The World Economic Forum describes impact investing as an approach that intentionally seeks to create both financial return as well as positive social and/or environmental impacts that are actively measured. The term is often used narrowly as an asset class, but, in fact, it represents an investment approach or philosophy by which investments are made across asset classes. Such asset classes include venture capital and private equity, social impact bonds, municipal bonds, real estate and contribution to social venture funds.Continue Reading Impact Investing by Family Offices