Speaking to FE, Niranjan broke his silence on the battles. According to him, while his group has enough projects to sail through till 2024, a 20 per cent annual growth rate and more, “the reality is that differences are going to happen (and) separations are going to take place”.

The London Court of International Arbitration is hearing a case between him as the patriarch of the family and his daughter over the family business. A final verdict is expected by June. He refrained from speaking on the arbitration as it is confidential, but sees such fights creating more entrepreneurs.

“The best part of this (family splits) is that has led to individual entrepreneurship among the second generation which is much higher than before,” says Hiranandani, 62, whose family stepped into the real estate business in 1978. “This is indeed going to affect the way businesses are done, rather than businesses per se.”

“The command or control of heads of businesses was much more earlier,” says Kavil Ramachandran, Thomas Schmidheiny Chair Professor of family business and wealth management, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. “Now, there is a decline in emotional bonding as people have started living separately.”

The fight in the Hiranandani family turned bitter after reports that Priya tried to scuttle her brother Darshan’s plans to start a power plant in Thane district of Maharashtra. “Police told me that my daughter was behind it,” says Hiranandani. “It is sad.”

At the heart of the dispute are the allegations of violating the Business Association Agreements signed between Hiranandanis and Priya Vandrevala in 2006. Under it, they floated Hirco Plc in London and launched a subsidiary Hirco Developments to develop townships in India. Relations turned sour in 2009 when Priya alleged that fresh acquisitions of properties was not translating into profits for her. Niranjan said many of the buys were outside the agreements which led to the full-fledged battle.