IIM Lucknow launches two-year MBA in Family Business for next-gen owners

The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow has launched a two-year MBA in Family Business, a new programme aimed at the owners and the next generation of India's family-run companies. The launch was reported on Monday, 12 October 2026. Classes are due to begin in July 2027, and applications are being taken in two phases: the first closes on 31 December 2026 and the second on 2 April 2027. To be eligible, an applicant must be an owner or a member of the family that owns a business with an annual turnover of at least Rs 20 crore. During the course, each participant will draw up a five-to-ten-year transformation and growth plan for their own family business.

Many Indian businesses are family-run, from small manufacturers to large groups. Many of them face the same moment sooner or later: the founding generation steps back, and a son, daughter, niece or nephew has to take over. That handover often goes wrong. Heirs may join the business with no formal training, or with a general business degree that teaches them how to manage a listed company, not how to manage family shareholders, siblings in the same office or a patriarch who is still on the board.

A programme built around those questions is what IIM Lucknow is offering. Its central idea is that each participant learns using their own firm as the case study. The six Family Business Labs and the five-to-ten-year growth plan push students to apply what they learn to real decisions: how to modernise a factory, enter new markets, bring in professional managers or settle who owns what. For young people who expect to inherit a business, that is a more direct preparation than a general MBA.

The turnover rule is the programme's most important filter. By limiting places to families whose firms earn at least Rs 20 crore a year, the institute is aiming at established mid-sized and larger businesses rather than very small enterprises. That keeps the classroom focused on firms with enough scale to need formal governance and succession planning, though it also means the course is closed to heirs of smaller family shops and workshops.

Short-term: Young members of business families now have a new option to weigh against a general MBA, and many will be deciding over the next few months whether to apply in the first phase, which closes at the end of December.

Long-term: If the programme succeeds, other business schools may follow with similar courses, and more Indian family firms may enter their next generation with formal planning for succession, governance and growth. Better-run handovers can protect jobs in the businesses concerned.

Who is affected: Young heirs and owners of family businesses with Rs 20 crore or more in turnover, their families and employees, and other business schools competing for the same students.

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