A Game of Thrones as changing fortunes grip rulers, nobles, aspirants, and exiled

In December 2025, the bad boy of the gentlemen’s sport, Cricket, hosted a birthday bash for the disgraced corporate noble in London. Lalit Modi, a scion of the Modi business family, former head of Indian Premier League, and a runaway fugitive posted photographs with Vijay Mallya, a wilful defaulter of huge loans, and an absconder. The former brazenly wrote that the duo were the best-known fugitives in the world. For years, the Government has failed to extradite the two. This is indeed a tragedy when it comes to corporate governance.

Anil Ambani, the junior scion of top-notch India’s corporate royalty, showed the other side of mismanagement, as he, his executives, and firms were charged with several malpractices. Even as a Red Corner notice was issued against him to prevent him from being a renegade like Modi and Mallya, he was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. His fortunes fluctuated wildly, and a court declared that the banks cannot declare his corporate accounts as fraud. The share prices of the firms reflected the yo-yo turn of events; they went up on positive news, and crashed on the negative ones.

Some form of positive-negative combo engulfed the corporate sector. In May 2025, analysts were shocked when the 2024-25 data for net FDI inflows came in. At a mere $40 million, they were puny. In August 2025, the figure turned negative. In 2024 25, there was a 96 per cent decline in net FDI inflows. Now, many will consider it as bad news, possibly the worst in the light of schemes like Make-in-India, and strategies like China+1. Let us look at the positives.

Several MNCs are increasingly repatriating huge profits back to home nations. Royalty payments have increased, and are contested by the policy-makers. There is something more significant. Several Indian firms have become MNCs, and invest tens of billions of dollars in overseas markets to become global players. This trend started in the mid-1990s, when the Tata Group acquired Tetley Tea, followed by Corus Steel, and Jaguar Land Rover in the first decade of this century. This accelerated in the past decade. The Reserve Bank of India has accepted it as a part of a maturing economy.

One of the prime examples of the Indian MNC culture is Mukesh Ambani, the opposite side of the Ambani coin compared to younger brother, Anil. In 2023-24, Reliance Industries earned just over INR 10,00,000 crore in revenues, with net profits of just over INR 79,000 crore. Each day’s revenues and profits were INR 2,700 crore, and INR 200 crore, respectively. Reliance Jio emerged as a new twin giant in 2025, and announced a possible IPO in 2026. Of course, the corporate journey, as was the case in 2025, is punctuated with controversies.

The Ambani family ride mirrors that of Gautam Adani. After 2023, the stock prices of the latter’s group firms were rocked and socked due to a scathing report by an American short-seller. The recovery was swift, as the Adani Group went on a buying spree, and announced new projects, even as it was bogged down by more controversies. While Forbes real-time wealth tracker listed Mukesh Ambani at 16 with a net worth of more than $100 billion, Gautam Adani was 27 with $66 billion. Whiffs and smells of crony capitalism continued to dog business houses, and the political elite.

The corporate ugliness was witnessed elsewhere. In early 2025, cab aggregator, Blue Smart, with the help from government agencies, was exposed as a money-laundering operation. Probably the most venerated Tata Group grappled with distrust and mistrust, as the famed Tata Trusts lost their sheen, credibility, and respect. Infighting between the directors at the trusts hogged the headlines for months before quick repair works were done after a Mistry exposed the cracks within. One wonders at the role played by Home Minister Amit Shah, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

One thing is for sure. The Tata Group has moved beyond the legacy of the late Ratan Tata, who distanced himself from that of the legendary JRD Tata. JRD rooted the group in India as a nationalist one. Ratan looked outwards, and ventured abroad, even if some of the actions were shaky and unstable. The new successor, Noel Tata, who was shunned by Ratan during the past succession battle when the latter anointed Cyrus Mistry, has opted for a new course based on tech and AI. The Tata Trusts’ imbroglio reflected this change between the new guard, who sought the help of Ratan loyalists, and a rebel guard that wished to keep Ratan’s legacy alive.

Towards the end of 2025, for more than a week, IndiGo’s operations collapsed, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. Apart from a simple, and matter of fact, Mea Culpa, by way of an apology, there is nothing that the airline did to rectify its mistakes. The regulator, DGCA, or the aviation ministry did not take strict action, although, as usual, committees were set up to investigate the issues. In fact, the ministry gave a respite to IndiGo from strict work-related norms, which created the problems in the first place.

IndiGo highlighted systemic problems within India Inc, and the policy-makers inability to address them adequately. Across sectors, monopolies, duopolies, and oligopolies are dominant. While there is competition on paper, the markets are dictated by the dictates of a few players. In telecom, we have effectively two players, with a third burdened with debt, and a fourth state-owned one limping along. In aviation, there was only one, IndiGo, with the next, Tata Group, far away on the horizon. In airports and ports, there is one and only one private giant, although state-owned firms provide enough competition. Is the country moving towards the ‘Power of One?’