← 2. Setup & Registration4. Succession & Governance →
How a family's capital actually gets invested is a separate decision from the entity structure holding it. Here's how we frame the options, by what the family is trying to do, not by which one is "best."
← 2. Setup & Registration4. Succession & Governance →
← 2. Setup & Registration4. Succession & Governance →
Pooling capital with a professional manager, most common
AIF Category II is the workhorse category: private equity, private credit, real estate debt, and fund-of-funds all sit here, with pass-through tax treatment on most income (taxed in the investor's hands, not the fund's). Minimum investment is ₹1 crore per investor under SEBI's AIF Regulations.
Early-stage and venture exposure specifically
AIF Category I covers venture capital, SME, infrastructure, and social-venture funds, for families deliberately allocating toward that risk profile rather than general private markets.
Leveraged or trading-driven strategies
AIF Category III covers hedge-fund-style, long-short, and derivatives-based strategies, and is taxed at the fund level rather than pass-through, a materially different profile from Categories I and II worth understanding before committing capital.
A single-family, discretionary portfolio
PMS (Portfolio Management Services) holds securities directly in the investor's own demat account rather than pooling with other investors. SEBI's minimum is ₹50 lakh per strategy, lower-ticket than an AIF and better suited to a family that wants segregated, visible holdings rather than a fund structure.
Direct control, no external manager
Holding assets directly through the family's own LLP or company from the Structure & Vehicle page, simplest structurally, but it puts the investment decision-making inside the family office itself rather than delegating it.
Global-scale families, above roughly $10M
A GIFT City Family Investment Fund (FIF) is a self-managed vehicle under the IFSCA (Fund Management) Regulations, 2025, structured as a company, contributory trust, or LLP, exclusively for a single family. It requires a minimum USD 10 million corpus within 3 years of registration and a Principal Officer based in the IFSC, but in exchange the fund is treated as non-resident under FEMA, carries a 100% income-tax exemption on business income for 10 of 15 years, and gives the family a regulated base to invest globally from an Indian jurisdiction.
Most family offices we've built end up running more than one of these at once, direct holding for the core, an AIF allocation for private markets exposure, alongside the investment policy statement that sets the rules for how they interact.
Talk to us about your family office.
Matching the goal to the vehicle
- Preserving capital across generations, above active management: direct holding through the LLP or company, or a straightforward AIF Category II allocation, rather than a leveraged Category III strategy.
- Deliberate exposure to venture and early-stage risk: AIF Category I, sized as a defined slice of the portfolio, not the default.
- A segregated, visible portfolio the family can see line by line: PMS, held in the family's own demat account.
- Global capital deployment from an Indian base, at scale: a GIFT City Family Investment Fund, once the family is realistically committing the $10 million minimum corpus.
Common questions
Can a family run more than one of these at the same time?
Yes. Most of the family offices we've built do exactly this: direct holding for the core estate, an AIF Category II allocation for private-markets exposure, and PMS for a segregated equities sleeve, all governed by one investment policy statement that sets how much sits in each.
What if the family doesn't yet meet the $10 million GIFT City FIF threshold?
Then it isn't the right vehicle yet: a PMS or AIF allocation covers the same investment intent at a fraction of the minimum, and migrating to a GIFT City FIF later, once the corpus genuinely supports it, is a straightforward restructuring rather than something that has to be decided upfront.
Choosing a family office's investment strategy.
AIF, PMS, direct holding, or a GIFT City Family Investment Fund.
Read the briefing →
Talk to us about your family office.
Bring the situation, however incomplete; leave with a written, fixed-fee plan for the structure, on the same calendar as everything else we file for you.