For Escorts Kubota Chairman and Managing Director Nikhil Nanda, family legacy may open doors, but it cannot guarantee a position in the boardroom.Speaking on a podcast, Nanda made it clear that his daughter, Navya Naveli Nanda, will not secure a role at Escorts Kubota merely because she belongs to the Nanda-Bachchan family. Any position within the company, he said, would have to be earned through merit and contribution.”India is very intelligent in spotting governance pedigree of promoters,” Nanda said, stressing that listed companies are constantly judged by investors on governance, credibility and performance. “Everything eventually gets reflected in the share price.”Escorts Kubota, an engineering and agri-machinery company with a market capitalisation of around Rs 31,000 crore, is jointly promoted by the Nanda family and Japan’s Kubota Corporation. Nanda said that after him, his children would naturally represent the family’s shareholder interests alongside Kubota, but drew a clear distinction between ownership and operational responsibilities.”Navya is now showing willingness to participate more and more into EKL. But just because her last name is Nanda does not give her the right to get a position. She has to earn her position,” he said.Nanda expressed confidence that Navya would chart her own path. Describing her as ambitious and capable, he noted that she recently graduated from IIM Ahmedabad and has accompanied him on several visits to Japan, where she has interacted with senior leadership at Kubota.According to him, Navya’s experience at Meta and exposure to the digital ecosystem could prove valuable as Escorts Kubota increasingly embraces digital marketing and technology-driven operations.However, he said the nature of her future role would depend entirely on the value she creates. “For her to do what she will do as a day-to-day operation of EKL is for her to carve her path based on her appreciation and impact. It really is up to her,” he said.Nanda said the same principle applies to his son, Agastya Nanda, who has chosen a career in acting.Recalling a light-hearted family joke, he said, “My son says, ‘I became an actor, Navya is going towards tractor’.”While Agastya has entered the entertainment industry, Navya appears increasingly interested in business, private equity, family office operations and the responsibilities attached to the Nanda family’s shareholding interests.Nanda said he has never wanted to impose his ambitions on his children. “My mother always told me, ‘Nikhil, let your children do what they love.’ So I believe in that,” he said.During the conversation, Nanda also reflected on his relationship with his maternal grandfather, the legendary filmmaker and actor Raj Kapoor. As a child, he said, he knew Kapoor simply as “Nana ji” and only later realised the global scale of his fame.He recalled an incident in the United States when a Russian taxi driver recognised Raj Kapoor’s songs and refused to accept payment after learning of Nanda’s connection to the iconic actor.The most enduring lesson from Kapoor, however, came when Nanda was 12 years old and asked his grandfather what he expected from him as a grandson.According to Nanda, Kapoor replied that true wealth and reputation would be earned if, after retirement, a person could step out of a three-wheeler and still be respected and remembered for the impact he had created.Nanda said he has tried to live by that philosophy ever since. Legacy, he suggested, is not about entitlement but about reputation, contribution and earning the right to carry a family name forward.