Meet the Patnis: How a business family that invests together, stays together

The idea that the family elders shall make monetary decisions for other members of the household is not unheard of for most. But that’s not the approach adopted by the Patni family office. Everyone has a voice. Speaking on the sidelines of an event, Amit Patni, director, RAAY Global Investments, explained their approach.

“Each family member has their own wealth but it’s managed by a single chief investment officer (CIO). He sits down at the beginning of the year with each member, understands what the person’s risk return profile is and draws up a plan accordingly. For example, my risk return profile will be very different from my father’s or that of my children,” Patni said. This is a very different approach from the time when his grandfather “would decide for everyone”.



Of course, once the plan is made, the investment committee (comprising family members) sits down, reviews it and hands over the final mandate. So there is consultation involved.

“The idea is to create wealth for each member. It (funds) may be managed under one umbrella but each person knows what he or she has. It helps because if the individual wants to do their own business, he draws from his fund,” said Amit Patni .