Who is a "promoter"? Indian law makes control explicit in a way US law does not. Under the SEBI ICDR Regulations and the Companies Act (Section 2(69)), a promoter is broadly a person named as such, in control of the company, or on whose advice the board acts; the promoter group extends to relatives, entities controlled by them, and entities where the promoter group holds a substantial stake (definitions in ICDR Regulation 2). The point of the concept is that control and ownership are disclosed as a bloc, so you can see the family, its relatives, and its controlled entities as one actor.
The significant beneficial owner (SBO). Layering hides the individual behind the entities. Section 90 of the Companies Act plus the SBO Rules require an individual who holds, indirectly, alone or together, at least 10% of shares, voting rights, or dividend rights, or who exercises significant influence or control, to declare themselves as an SBO (Form BEN-1); the company files BEN-2. The arithmetic is multiplicative through the chain: an individual holding 60% of Entity X, which holds 30% of the listed company, has an indirect economic interest of 0.60 × 0.30 = 18%: above the 10% line, an SBO who must be on the register. When the register is empty and the structure is obviously layered, the absence is itself a finding.
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How do you map a promoter group?
How to build the map: the document sequence. (1) Shareholding pattern (filed quarterly with the exchanges): promoter and promoter-group holding and, critically, the pledged/encumbered portion. (2) Annual report's related-party note (Ind AS 24): the list of related parties, by relationship, and the year's transactions with each. (3) MCA21: MGT-7 for the ownership chain and directorships; AOC-4 for subsidiary financials; BEN-2 for the SBO; CHG filings for charges (secured lenders reveal where debt sits). (4) DRHP/offer documents: the cleanest one-time picture of the group tree and the "group companies" list. (5) Board composition and committee reports: how many directors are genuinely independent, who chairs the audit committee, and whether independent directors have been resigning.
What the map must show. The listed company at the centre; its subsidiaries, step-down subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures (with holding percentages); the promoter and promoter-group entities outside the listed perimeter; the directed edges of transactions and loans between them; and the SBO at the top. The finished map answers one question: does value accrue to the listed company, or leak into the ecosystem around it?
What is the US equivalent of a promoter group?
US contrast. The US has no "promoter group." Control instead shows up as dual-class voting: super-voting founder shares that grant control far in excess of economic ownership. The analytical object is the wedge: voting rights ÷ cash-flow rights. A founder with 18% economics and 62% votes has a wedge of 0.62 ÷ 0.18 = 3.4×: control vastly exceeding stake, which is the same governance risk the Indian promoter concept captures, expressed through share classes rather than a family tree. US beneficial-ownership disclosure (Schedule 13D/13G, proxy Item 403) is the analogue of India's shareholding pattern; there is no US analogue to the quarterly pledge line, which makes India's disclosure, in this one respect, richer.