‘There is a grand ambition in India’

Keeping him company is his New Yorker wife, Lynn Forester de Rothschild. The lady’s credentials are no less formidable, marrying experience in corporate law to a formidable grasp of the energy and telecom industries. She’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 — his wife is now a director, continuing ‘‘a family association going back to the 1930s’’ — served on the board of De Beers, The Daily Telegraph, IBM UK, as a governor of LSE. It’s not a CV, it’s a real-life game of Monopoly.

In India, the de Rothschilds are looking at possible ‘‘BPO opportunities’’. They’re also impressed by the potential of the domestic market in ‘‘power infrastructure and agriculture’’.

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

Interestingly, despite her background in telecom, Lady Lynn doesn’t want a piece of the Indian market: ‘‘I’m not touching it. They’re too many players already.’’ ‘‘Mr Reliance has got it sown up,’’ her husband adds, ‘‘and Mr Airtel and Mr Hutch and…’’

More than cite specific projects, the de Rothschilds are keen to emphasise their ‘‘longterm commitment to India’’. 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 Wellington’s campaign in Waterloo.

To Sir Evelyn, India is poised for the ‘‘next big leap’’. His wife is even more effusive: ‘‘I was in Bangalore a few weeks ago and I said ‘this feels like Silicon Valley in 1990’. There is a grand ambition in India.’’

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

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.

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

The de Rothschild’s tangential India connection is that Sir Evelyn’s ‘‘cousin Emma’’ is married to economist Amartya Sen. Is she a distant cousin? ‘‘Among the Rothschilds,’’ comes Lady Lynn’s piercing answer, ‘‘there are no distant cousins. Every cousin is a cousin.’’ Among the Rothschilds, family is clearly serious business.