Wealthy Indian Families Seek Hong Kong For Long-Term Legacy Planning

Forbes

16-07-2025

Indian family businesses are choosing Hong Kong for its established experience in legacy planning, global market access and robust governance frameworks.
For many Indian families who have built multi-generational businesses, the question of where and how to manage their legacy is becoming increasingly pressing. As they seek jurisdictions that offer a stable, trusted and well-regulated environment to grow and preserve their wealth, Hong Kong is emerging as a compelling destination, particularly for those looking to establish family offices.
With over a century of experience in family wealth management, Hong Kong has long supported multi-generational families in building and preserving their legacies. The city offers families a robust support system—comprising legal experts, financial advisors and experienced private banks—to help implement succession and wealth strategies. These resources are particularly important for families navigating the strategic transition from founders to second- and third-generation family leaders.
Two long-established Indian-origin families, the Harilelas and the KGK Group, offer unified examples of how Hong Kong has not only enabled them to grow their businesses, but also strengthen the governance and planning needs of their extended families.
Dr. Aron Harilela, Chairman and CEO of Harilela Hotels, draws on nearly a century of family presence in Hong Kong to strengthen corporate governance and guide the next generation in legacy planning.
Dr. Aron Harilela, Chairman and CEO of Harilela Hotels, represents a family that has been in Hong Kong since the 1930s. Over the course of nearly a century, the Harilela business has evolved from a tailoring enterprise into a respected hospitality group. The journey, however, has not been without challenges. As the family grew to over 100 members, the ability to build consensus became harder with each generation. In Harilela's words, 'the only way to make decisions work and to implement those decisions is by good corporate governance.'
'We had to take away all the family issues out of the boardroom. Implementing good corporate governance at a board and corporate level is the key to creating harmonization and dealing with the challenges of an intergenerational change. And we have adopted this in Hong Kong,' he explains.
Sanjay Kothari, Vice Chairman of the KGK Group, represents a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs using Hong Kong as a strategic base to grow global investments.
Sanjay Kothari, Vice Chairman of the KGK Group, who is the fourth generation of the Kothari family, moved to Hong Kong in 1990 and started expanding the family business there. The family-run global enterprise has a strong presence in Hong Kong, using the city as a central base for its operations and investment strategy.
'We place great emphasis on wealth planning to ensure continuity and sustainability across generations,' Kothari says. 'Hong Kong's legal and financial systems have provided us with effective tools for structuring inheritance and succession planning. This framework allows us to maintain the integrity of our family's business and assets while fostering future growth.'
Beyond succession, many Indian families are looking for investment destinations that offer both opportunity and predictability. As Asia's top cross-border asset and wealth management center, Hong Kong provides access to a wide array of investment classes, from stocks and bonds to art, real estate, green finance and private capital.
'Hong Kong has been instrumental in growing and safeguarding our family's investments. Its sophisticated financial market offers a wide range of opportunities, allowing us to diversify our portfolio with confidence,' says Kothari.
Robert Buchbauer, Vice Chairman of Swarovski International Holding, sees similar value. 'Hong Kong offers stability, predictability and an environment that is business-friendly—key elements for any family office seeking a solid foundation for long-term growth.'
In the digital asset space, Hong Kong has taken a clear and pragmatic regulatory approach. With 11 licensed virtual asset firms and evolving rules around stablecoins, tokenization and blockchain applications, the city is positioning itself as a global leader in digital asset governance, providing predictability in a sector where many jurisdictions, including India, still face uncertainty. This clarity allows Indian family offices to navigate digital assets with greater confidence.
While regulatory hurdles in India, such as those under the Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022, continue to hinder cross-border diversification for Indian family offices, Hong Kong offers open capital markets and unrestricted cross-border flows.
Families can allocate wealth freely into diversified investment products, ranging from public markets to alternative assets, and channel capital not just into Hong Kong, but also into other global financial centers.
As a free port with no capital controls, Hong Kong imposes no restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, inward or outward investments, or the repatriation of funds. The city's stock market is one of the most liquid in the world, recording an average daily turnover of HK$274.7 billion (US$35 billion) in April 2025, and supports a broad range of products, from equities and bonds to structured and alternative instruments.
This open and frictionless capital environment is reinforced by Hong Kong's status as the world's freest economy, a title it has consistently held for over two decades according to international rankings such as the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World index. This freedom gives Indian family offices full flexibility to pursue global portfolio strategies without dealing with excessive red tape or unexpected changes to policy.
'As a global financial hub, Hong Kong provides seamless access to both local and international markets, enabling efficient and secure operations, making it the prime choice for high net worth individuals,' Kothari says.
As a global financial hub, Hong Kong provides seamless access to both local and international markets.
Hong Kong also makes it straightforward to establish a family office. For single-family offices that do not engage in regulated financial activities, no licensing is required.
Families benefit from a robust common law system, an independent judiciary and alignment with international legal standards, advantages reinforced by Hong Kong's 'One Country, Two Systems' framework that ensures the city's legal and regulatory independence. The city is also home to over 267,000 financial professionals, providing deep expertise across wealth planning, governance, tax and succession.
As Indian families look to secure their legacies for generations to come, Hong Kong's combination of experience, infrastructure and freedom makes it a natural partner.