Family and Dhanda: A to Z of Succession Planning for Founders and Successors – By Dr. Srinath Sridharan (Published by Rupa Publications India)

Protect your lifework, eliminate internal friction, and engineer a bulletproof legacy that thrives for generations. In Family and Dhanda, veteran corporate advisor and strategic counsel Dr. Srinath Sridharan delivers a definitive, hard-hitting playbook tailored specifically for the unique cultural, emotional, and commercial realities of Indian businesses. Leveraging nearly three decades of high-level boardrooms experience, Sridharan combines rigorous corporate governance principles with deep psychological empathy, offering an indispensable architectural roadmap for founders, promoters, and next-generation successors alike.

Family-owned businesses (FOBs) form the absolute backbone of India’s economy, contributing over 75% to the national GDP and making up two-thirds of all publicly traded companies. Statistically, these empires deliver shareholder returns twice as high as their non-family counterparts, driven by deep-rooted entrepreneurial passion. Yet, the transition across generations remains a critical failure point. Family and Dhanda masterfully addresses this vulnerability head-on. Sridharan breaks down the complex art and science of succession planning, mapping out how the elite survivals insulate their businesses from the devastating impacts of internal family politics, outdated gender biases, and bitter inheritance disputes that routinely derail multi-million dollar legacies.

Moving far beyond generic Western corporate handbooks, Family and Dhanda recognizes that in India, business (dhanda) and household (parivaar) are deeply intertwined. Sridharan provides a comprehensive, highly tactical alphabetized framework that empowers business families to implement professionalized standards without stripping away their core values. This vital guide offers actionable insights across four critical structural dimensions: