India ranks third in the world for family business leadership, according to research by Credit Suisse.
In terms of numbers China ranks top with US firms second placed. All the family businesses surveyed the Swiss bank had a market capitalisation of $839bn (£639bn, €716bn).
Credit Suisse found that companies whose founders or descendants held a 20% stake borrowed less and made higher profits than those without a family connection.
Family-owned businesses also outperformed broader equity markets across every region and sector on a long-term basis, although the relative performance during the first half year of 2018 has been weaker.
Differing characteristics
Analysts put it down to a long-term, conservative approach, which while it sometimes held companies back in improving conditions, and kept lay-offs and closures to a minimum in downturns.
In emerging countries, such as Latin America and across non-Japan Asia, almost half of the companies are first generation family or founder owned, whereas family-owned businesses in Europe and the US tend to be older, for example 30% of the European companies are fifth generation family-owned or even older.
The best performing businesses in terms of profitability compared with non-family businesses were in India, Germany, Italy and China.
