145;There is a grand ambition in India146;

It is said of the Rothschilds, perhaps the world8217;s best known business family, that they were the financiers when European governments ...

It is said of the Rothschilds, perhaps the world8217;s best known business family, that they were the financiers when European governments undertook great investments, in imperial wars, in the Suez Canal, in building railway networks. Two hundred years later, when the very governments went into privatisation mode, the Rothschilds were still there, advising over 30 countries on how to sell off the legacy of statism.

If business is about smelling opportunity, the Rothschilds usually live somewhere in the nostrils. Right now they8217;re sniffing India. Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, London-based chairman of Concordia BV, the family holding company, is in Delhi to attend the 32nd Williamsburg Conference, catch up with old friends and make his plans for India.

Keeping him company is his New Yorker wife, Lynn Forester de Rothschild. The lady8217;s credentials are no less formidable, marrying experience in corporate law to a formidable grasp of the energy and telecom industries. She8217;s former CEO of FirstMark Communications, Europe.

The de Rothschilds are Establishment with a capital E. Sir Evelyn has been chairman of the board of The Economist 8212; his wife is now a director, continuing 8216;8216;a family association going back to the 1930s8217;8217; 8212; served on the board of De Beers, The Daily Telegraph, IBM UK, as a governor of LSE. It8217;s not a CV, it8217;s a real-life game of Monopoly.

In India, the de Rothschilds are looking at possible 8216;8216;BPO opportunities8217;8217;. They8217;re also impressed by the potential of the domestic market in 8216;8216;power infrastructure and agriculture8217;8217;.

That second area is intriguing. The arrival of business corporations to rural farms is the Indian reform process8217;s final frontier. Lady Lynn says, 8216;8216;I think there is possibility for farmers to receive better prices, through better distribution.8217;8217; The rest is surmise.

Interestingly, despite her background in telecom, Lady Lynn doesn8217;t want a piece of the Indian market: 8216;8216;I8217;m not touching it. They8217;re too many players already.8217;8217; 8216;8216;Mr Reliance has got it sown up,8217;8217; her husband adds, 8216;8216;and Mr Airtel and Mr Hutch and8230;8217;8217;

Story continues below this ad

More than cite specific projects, the de Rothschilds are keen to emphasise their 8216;8216;longterm commitment to India8217;8217;. For evidence, they point out this is their second visit in four weeks. Before 2004, Lady Lynn had never seen India. Sir Evelyn had come twice, on a holiday in 1960 and then five years ago, to set up the Mumbai branch of N M Rothschild, the bank named after Nathan Meyer Rothschild, the ancestor who bankrolled Wellington8217;s campaign in Waterloo.

To Sir Evelyn, India is poised for the 8216;8216;next big leap8217;8217;. His wife is even more effusive: 8216;8216;I was in Bangalore a few weeks ago and I said 8216;this feels like Silicon Valley in 19908217;. There is a grand ambition in India.8217;8217;

The couple is not worried by the outsourcing backlash. 8216;8216;It8217;s election year,8217;8217; says Lady Lynn, 8216;8216;what we in America call the silly season. I believe there will not be radical legal changes to prevent American companies from importing services.8217;8217;

To Sir Evelyn, India should stay quiet for the moment but work towards promoting itself and the mutual benefits of outsourcing sometime after the American election. He says China has far greater recall in American mindspace and in the long run India has to redress that.

Story continues below this ad

Finally, what advice does the Rothschild patriarch have for Indian corporate dynasties adjusting to a more competitive environment? Sir Evelyn emphasises the three Cs: 8216;8216;continuity, challenge, competence8217;8217;. The first refers to the family way. The second to the ability of the 8216;8216;next generation to want to do something different8217;8217;. The third advocates meritocracy within the family system. Family-held businesses are far from dinosaurs, he argues: 8216;8216;In the EU, 100 million people are employed in family-run companies, 65 per cent of Spain8217;s workforce is in family companies.8217;8217;

The de Rothschild8217;s tangential India connection is that Sir Evelyn8217;s 8216;8216;cousin Emma8217;8217; is married to economist Amartya Sen. Is she a distant cousin? 8216;8216;Among the Rothschilds,8217;8217; comes Lady Lynn8217;s piercing answer, 8216;8216;there are no distant cousins. Every cousin is a cousin.8217;8217; Among the Rothschilds, family is clearly serious business.