Rewind: Time for India’s own Big 4

A strategic blueprint to build India’s consulting champions — through fairer procurement rules and structural support — to take on global giants

By T Muralidharan

In an article published in a leading English daily on July 18, 2025, Sanjeev Sanyal (member of PM Economic Advisory Council) and Apurv Mishra highlighted the urgent need for India to foster homegrown consulting firms capable of standing alongside the global Big 7 — McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG — which dominate the consulting space, even in India.

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Indian talent provides the consulting in India, but the control remains foreign. India has largely remained a client rather than a creator in this sector. This article outlines a practical, strategic plan to build India’s own Big 4 by addressing two key challenges: enabling government and enterprise customers to support Indian firms through fairer procurement rules and structural support to help Indian firms scale and compete globally.

Sold-out Story

India once had several thriving audit and advisory firms. But most were acquired by the global Big 4. Examples include AF Ferguson and Fraser & Ross, which were absorbed by Deloitte; CC Chokshi, which became part of EY; and SB Billimoria, another Deloitte acquisition. These firms had legacy, networks, and trust. Branding disadvantages, regulatory constraints, and lack of capital support resulted in their sellout.

Over the past three decades, India’s FMCG landscape has also witnessed a steady wave of acquisitions where prominent homegrown brands were absorbed by multinational corporations, leading to a significant erosion of Indian ownership in the sector. One of the earliest and most symbolic examples was the sale of Thums Up, Limca, and Gold Spot by Parle to Coca-Cola in 1993, as the American giant re-entered post-liberalisation India and sought instant market share. Soon after, in 1998, the Tata Group sold its cosmetics brand Lakmé to Hindustan Lever (now HUL), a subsidiary of Unilever (UK), signalling its exit.

In 2005, Colgate-Palmolive (USA) acquired the household care brands Margo, Neem, and Promise from Balsara Hygiene, originally part of the Dabur group. Another major exit occurred in 2010, when Reckitt Benckiser (UK) acquired Paras Pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, Havmor Ice Cream, a beloved Gujarat-based brand, was sold to South Korea’s Lotte Group in 2017.

These transactions reveal not only the allure of Indian brands and market reach but also highlight the lack of domestic capital and policy safeguards to preserve ownership. With most large Indian brands now housed within foreign portfolios, the need for structural reforms in procurement criteria, investment support, and scale-building becomes urgent if India is to build globally competitive, Indian-owned champions.

Champions who Stayed Indian

While many Indian consulting and tech firms have been acquired by multinational giants, a few stand out for their resolute independence and global impact.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), part of the Tata Group, is a shining example of how an Indian company can grow into a global consulting powerhouse while remaining fully Indian-owned. Founded in 1968, TCS has consistently scaled without selling out, emerging as one of the top three IT services companies globally by market capitalisation. With a presence in over 40 countries and a robust consulting arm, TCS has demonstrated that Indian ownership and global leadership are not mutually exclusive.
• Equally remarkable is Zoho, founded by Sridhar Vembu, which has built a global SaaS empire without any venture capital or acquisition. With over 100 million users across over 150 countries, Zoho exemplifies what’s possible through bootstrapped innovation, frugal engineering, and rural R&D rooted in India. Vembu’s steadfast refusal to dilute ownership has made Zoho a case study in how independence can fuel both purpose and scale.
• In the strategy consulting space, Zinnov, founded by Pari Natarajan, has carved out a niche advising Fortune 500 clients on digital transformation, global R&D, and India market strategies. Despite global competition from McKinsey and BCG, Zinnov has grown as a founder-owned firm with offices in the US, India, and Japan.
• Similarly, Fractal Analytics, led by Srikanth Velamakanni, has resisted early acquisition offers and scaled into a global AI and analytics consulting firm with strategic investors but retained Indian control. With offices in New York, London, and Mumbai, Fractal has become a leading name in decision science and AI solutions for large enterprises.

Biased Procurement Policies

International branding and early preferential access allowed foreign firms to dominate public consulting projects in India. Many government tenders in India impose implicit barriers against Indian firms. Pre-qualification (PQ) requirements often include years of global experience, huge annual turnovers, and execution of similar-sized contracts — unrealistic for emerging Indian players. Such disproportionate PQ criteria favour established foreign players. For example, a Rs 20 crore tender may require a past annual turnover of Rs 50 crore. This restricts competition and innovation.

This is despite the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) guidelines which specify “The turnover requirement should be commensurate with the nature, size, and risk of the project. Inflated financial thresholds can restrict competition and favour larger players.”

In addition, the guidelines recommend: “Turnover should be used selectively and only when it adds genuine value to the bidder assessment. Example: For consultancy services, technical expertise and past project experience may outweigh the significance of annual turnover”. State governments and PSUs often ignore these guidelines.

In contrast, the US follows the SBA 8(a) program, which earmarks federal contracts for small, disadvantaged businesses. The EU’s Public Procurement Directive insists on proportionality and open access. India must learn from these models.

Capital Creates Champions

Consulting is a capital-intensive business. Firms need to hire top talent, fund client acquisition and global expansion, and maintain long billing cycles. Indian banks rarely finance such businesses due to a lack of tangible collateral.

Japan’s MITI model from the 1970s offers lessons. MITI provided quasi-equity support and soft loans to national champions in steel, automobiles, and electronics. India must create a Consulting Growth Fund (CGF) to back its own champions. A Rs 10,000-crore fund, with equity and grant components, can pick 20 high-potential Indian consulting firms and provide structured capital.

Additionally, the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)-like credit guarantee model must be expanded to consulting. Banks can lend to Indian consulting firms backed by this sovereign guarantee for large working capital needs.

In the West, Bain Capital spun out of consulting. Accenture scaled post-Andersen, thanks to early US government contracts. India must replicate this ecosystem.

State: Anchor Client, Brand Builder

India must mandate that PQ experience thresholds be limited to 100 per cent of the contract value for Indian consulting firms. The CVC, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) must issue a unified guideline and enforce it. To strengthen enforcement of these guidelines, a digital CVC portal must allow firms to challenge unfair PQ norms transparently and insist on a quick resolution.

The government can act as an anchor customer by mandating that 25 per cent of all public consulting spend goes to Indian-owned firms. A certification system — Indian Consulting Champion — can be introduced to promote trusted domestic players.

Big Four Acquisitions in India
1990s: AF Ferguson and Fraser & Ross absorbed by Deloitte
Early 2000s: CC Chokshi becomes part of EY
2009: SB Billimoria acquired by Deloitte

Moreover, a fund like the Indian Consulting Champion Fund (ICCF) should invest 10-15 per cent in top Indian firms, akin to early strategic investments by LIC and UTI in ITC and L&T.

Other examples of successful government minority stakes include NSDL, IRCTC, NSE, and ONGC — entities that combined private sector efficiency with public trust. The government can monetise these stakes later.

The Ministry of External Affairs and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade should support Indian firms abroad, including subsidising their presence at global consulting expos, setting up India Consulting Pavilions, and helping build international offices. A global consulting talent repatriation programme can also be launched. These measures will help local firms develop the capacity to compete in the broader national and global marketplace.

Make-in-India for Services

India’s services sector makes up more than 50 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) but gets far less policy attention than manufacturing. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) model should be mirrored in a Consulting Leadership Incentive (CLI) scheme.

The global consulting sector is at a turning point — with AI, geopolitics, and deglobalisation reshaping advisory. India has talent and market size, but it must build ambition. With procurement reform, funding innovation, and strategic handholding, India can build its own Big 4. The time is now.

India’s Rs 27,000-crore consulting boom, but who’s cashing in?

India has rapidly emerged as one of the most dynamic markets for business consulting, driven by large-scale public reforms, digital transformation in the private sector, and a growing appetite for external expertise. From infrastructure planning to AI and digital strategy, consulting has become a strategic necessity across government and industry.

Public Sector: Big ambitions, Rs 5,000 crore budgets
The Indian government’s consulting spend has surged, particularly under flagship missions like Digital India, Smart Cities, and Gati Shakti. Estimates suggest that central ministries, State governments, and PSUs collectively spend over Rs 1,500-2,000 crore annually on formal consulting contracts, with indirect or embedded advisory projects pushing this above Rs 5,000 crore.

Notable examples

• • Smart Cities Mission: Over 100 cities engaged consulting firms like E&Y, PwC, KPMG, and AECOM, with project management contracts often ranging between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore per city.
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC): Engaged BCG, Deloitte and others for programme design, impact evaluation, and capacity building.
• ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce): With support from McKinsey and PwC, ONDC has become a flagship digital infrastructure project.
• Startup India and Ease of Doing Business Reforms: Multiple strategy papers and implementation roadmaps created by McKinsey and KPMG, with budgets running into tens of crores.

Private Sector: Transformation Agenda

In the private sector, India’s consulting adoption is led by the BFSI, telecom, IT, and manufacturing sectors. A BCG report noted that Indian corporates are allocating 2-5% of strategic budgets to external consulting — especially in areas like digital transformation, ESG compliance, operational efficiency, and M&A.

Compare this against R&D expenditure. In FY 2020-21, private sector industrial firms in India spent 1.46 per cent of their sales turnover on R&D, compared to just 0.30 per cent by public sector R&D units, according to the Department of Science and Technology.

Some of the big projects include: Digitisation of customer experience (eg, Axis Bank, Airtel), Post-Covid supply chain re-engineering (eg, Marico, Tata Steel), Cost transformation and automation (eg, JSW Group, Vedanta).

Top consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, and Accenture have significantly expanded their India presence, both for client servicing and via Global Capability Centres (GCCs), employing over 75,000 professionals.

The Road Ahead

An Assocham assessment (in a report co-authored with PwC) predicted that the Indian consulting market is expected to grow to Rs 27,000 crore. However, a disproportionate share still goes to global firms. As India seeks strategic autonomy and local capacity building, it is time to nurture homegrown consulting giants that can compete globally.

Walking into MNCs’ fold

Over the past three decades, many of India’s prominent fast-moving consumer goods brands have been absorbed by multinational corporations, leading to a significant erosion of Indian ownership in the sector

1993: One of the earliest and most symbolic deals took place when Parle sold Thums Up, Limca, and Gold Spot to Coca-Cola, making way for the American giant to re-enter India and gain instant market share
1998: Tata Group sold its cosmetics brand Lakmé to Hindustan Lever (now HUL), a subsidiary of Unilever (UK), signalling its exit from the beauty business
2005: Colgate-Palmolive (USA) acquired the household care brands Margo, Neem, and Promise from Balsara Hygiene, originally part of the Dabur group
2010: UK’s Reckitt Benckiser, a global player in over-the-counter health and hygiene products, buys Paras Pharmaceuticals
2017: Gujarat’s beloved ice cream brand, Havmor, was sold to South Korea’s Lotte Group

(The author is Founder Chairman, TMI Group and Quanta People)