Mumbai, Oct. 8 -- In the first week of June, a group of 50 executives from Shriram Group's revamped capital markets business descended on Taj Fisherman's Cove Resort in Chennai, overlooking the tumultuous Bay of Bengal. The offsite had a star attraction: a speech by the 89-year-old founder of the group.

R. Thyagarajan, the octogenarian who set up the group in 1974 to meet the credit demands of India's underbanked population, wanted to instill a sense of ownership in those present. "Don't take instructions blindly. Our hierarchy is only for the external world. Internally, we are all equal," Thyagarajan was quoted as having said at the event.

Metaphorically, what he said internally reflects what the group plans to do externally: democrati...