Why India’s established elite is afraid of taking risks

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned, Anthony Patch possesses everything except the willingness to act. He has education, social connections, and even reasonable intelligence. What destroys him is not external circumstance but internal paralysis. He spends years waiting for his grandfather’s inheritance, and by the time it arrives, he has forgotten how to exercise agency. The money comes, but the man capable of using it meaningfully no longer exists. While this might seem like a distant literary tragedy, versions of it are unfolding across India’s business elite today.

Something unusual has been happening in Indian business over the past few years. Well-managed family businesses with healthy cash flows are being sold not because they face distress or strategic dead ends, but because the next generation prefers liquidity over operational continuity. VIP Industries, a leading player in the Indian branded luggage market, is one example.