Roshni Nadar is India’s richest woman in 2020: Kotak Wealth Hurun study

With a wealth of ₹54,850 crore, HCL Technologies Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the richest woman in India for 2020, followed by Biocon Founder and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw with a networth of ₹36,600 crore.

Mumbai-based pharmaceutical major USV Pvt Ltd’s Chairperson Leena Gandhi Tewari, with a wealth of about ₹21,340 crore, ranked third, according to the ‘Kotak Wealth Hurun-Leading Wealthy Women 2020’ report.

The cumulative wealth of the women wealth creators stood at ₹2,72,540 crore, while their average age was 53 years, according to the list, which is a compilation of the top 100 women wealth creators from India.

Divi’s Laboratories Director (Commercial) Nilima Motaparti (₹18,620 crore) came in fourth, followed by Radha Vembu (₹11,590 crore), sister of Zoho founder Sridhar in fifth slot, and cloud-networking company Arista Networks’ CEO Jayshree Ullal (₹10,220 crore) was ranked sixth.

Hero FinCorp Managing Director Renu Munjal (₹8,690 crore), Alembic Ltd Managing Director and CEO Malika Chirayu Amin (₹7,570 crore) and Anu Aga and Meher Pudumjee (₹5,850 crore) of Thermax are among others in the list.

The listing is based on the net-worth of women as on September 30, and the report focuses exclusively on women who play an active role in their family business, entrepreneurs and professionals. The list considered only Indians, born or bred in India, and who are actively managing their businesses or are self-made.

“One of the defining developments over the last couple of decades is the giant strides that women have taken as wealth creators. The report reveals an interesting and inspiring trend of more and more trailblazing women leading the way and scripting success stories across a wide variety of industries and encompassing cities and towns pan India. For India to achieve its aspirational target to be a $5 trillion economy by 2025, women will have to to play a crucial role as wealth creators,” Oisharya Das, CEO-Wealth Management at Kotak Mahindra Bank said.

SELF-MADE WOMAN

Of the total 100 women in the list, 31 of them are self-made wealth creators, of which six are professional managers and 25 are entrepreneurs. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who is also on the board of IT major Infosys, is the wealthiest self-made woman in the list.

While 19 of them are 40 years old or below, Kanika Tekriwal of JetSetGo; Anjana Reddy of Universal Sportsbiz and Vidhi Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical (all 32-year old) are the youngest.

Mumbai is the city of choice for 32 of the country’s wealthiest women, followed by New Delhi (20) and Hyderabad (10). With 34 and 20 listers, respectively, Maharashtra and Delhi are where the majority of the women in the list reside.

While most of the women hail from metropolitan cities, nearly 15 per cent of the wealthiest women are from non-metro cities.

Four of the country’s wealthiest women are also on the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2020.

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“The women on the list are the most successful women leaders in India. Their stories deserve to be shared and studied,” Anas Rahman Junaid, Managing Director and Chief Researcher at Hurun India said.

Accounting for 25 per cent, pharmaceuticals and textiles, apparel and accessories contributed the greatest number of wealth creators on the list, followed by healthcare and financial services with 9 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

Six start-up founders, of whom Falguni Nayar of Nykaa and Divya Gokulnath of Byju’s (Think & Learn) have recorded wealth of ₹5,410 crore and ₹3,490 crore, respectively, and have turned their companies into unicorns.

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While Nara Bhuvaneswari of Heritage Foods, wife of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu, ranked 65th on the list, with a networth of ₹2,780 crore, Vidhya Vinod of Study World Education is the richest self-made woman from Kerala.