Family Businesses important for Economies: President Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi, Oct 29: Terming family businesses important for economies around the world since times immemorial, President Pranab Mukherjee on wednesday said these contributed 60-70 percent to the Gross Domestic Product of India and 40-50 percent to its employment sector.

“While family is one of the oldest surviving social systems, family business is the oldest surviving economic system. Business history is witness to the fact that most countries have family businesses playing significant roles in the development of the economies in their respective countries,” the president said.

He was speaking at a book release function at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Mukherjee, who received the first copy of the book ‘Indian Family Business Mantras’ from union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, said that family and business have been interconnected for a long time.

The real life examples given in the book offer meaningful insights into business families on managing themselves effectively, dealing with conflicts and challenges as a family and the strategic value of staying together as members of the business family, he said.

The book has been written by Peter Leach, a business advisor, teacher and facilitator who works with family business owners globally, and Tatwamasi Dixit, a Chennai-based consultant. Dixit said he along with his co-author had tried to highlight good practices of family businesses.

“The book will help people to do well in their family businesses as we have tried to explain how a family business could do well generation after generation” .

On the occasion, Naidu appreciated the effort of the authors in bringing out the book and said that strong Indian family values were good for family businesses.