From Guptas To Mehtas — The Most Common Indian Business Family Names

The Indian business world has always had surnames with reputation. These surnames have been synonymous with the Indian business landscape generationally.

The Guptas top this list with nine families. This is followed by the Patels and the Agarwals, as per a 2024 report by Hurun on family businesses.

The report says that the rankings are determined based on company valuations as of the cut-off date, March 20, 2024. The methodology for valuation excludes private investments and liquid assets, and it adjusts for cross holdings to prevent double-counting.

Here are more details from the list.

The Guptas topped the list with nine families, led by Anil Rai Gupta family's Havells India Ltd. Their total value amounts to Rs 91,600 crore.

The Patels stood second in the list with eight families.

This clan is led by the Pankaj Patel family, which owns Zydus Lifesciences Ltd., with a total value of Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

The Agarwal and the Jain faction stood third in the list with a total of eight families.

The Anil Agarwal family, which owns Vedanta Ltd., at a valuation of Rs 1.42 lakh crore, leads the Agarwals.

On the other hand, the Vivek Jain family, that owns InoxGLF Group at a valuation of Rs 50,000 crore, leads the Jain faction.

The Mehtas are the fourth most common business family names in India. The most valued family from the Mehta clan is the Samir Mehta family, which runs Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Their total valuation stands at Rs 1.43 lakh crore.

The Desais, Singhs and Goenkas came fifth with three families each.

The Desais are led by the Kushal Desai family, which owns Apar Industries Ltd., at a total vaulation of Rs 24,700 crore.

The Rajiv Singh family, which owns DLF Ltd., at a value of Rs 2.04 lakh crore, leads the Singhs.

And the Goenkas are led by the Harsh Goenka family, which owns KEC International Ltd., at a total valuation of Rs 42,400 crore.