2 Indians make it to Forbes’ list of 100 richest.
Two business tycoons from India have been featured in the Forbes list of 100 richest tech billionaires in the world. The growth of technology has helped Indian industrialists cash in on the market conditions and make a fortune.
Here are the 9 richest Indian tech billionaires who were featured on the Forbes list of world billionaires.
1. Azim Premji; Premji is the chairman of Wipro, one of the largest IT companies in the world. Born in 1954, Premji graduated from Stanford University and took charge of Wipro in 1966 after the death of his father.
In 2010, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011. In 2013, he gave away 25 percent of his personal wealth to charity and has also pledged to give away the rest of 25% in the next five years. With a net worth of $15 billion, Premji has been ranked 55 on the Forbes list of wealthiest people.
2. Shiv Nadar: Nadar founded HCL, India’s fourth-largest software services exporter, in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company’s focus. His net worth is estimated at $11.1 billion and was ranked 88 by Forbes.
In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan for his efforts in the IT industry. He has formed Shiv Nadar Foundation to pursue his philanthropist activities in the fields of education and healthcare.
3. NR Narayana Murthy: Murthy is an IT industrialist and co-founder of India’s second-largest software service exporter Infosys. He started Infosys in 1981 and served as its CEO from 1981 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, he stepped down from the board and became Chairman Emeritus. On June 1, 2013, Murthy was appointed as Additional Director and Executive Chairman of the board for a period of five years.
Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by Fortune magazine. He has been described as ‘Father of Indian IT’ by Time magazine due to his contribution to outsourcing in India. He was ranked 959 globally with a net worth of $1.9 billion.
4. Kris Gopalakrishnan: Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder of Infosys who holds a net worth of $1.6 billion. In 2007, Kris took over as CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Limited. He was later appointed Executive Vice-Chairman of Infosys Board. He served as Non-executive Vice Chairman of Infosys Board from June 14 until October 10, 2014.
In 2014 Gopalakrishnan co-founded Axilor Ventures, a venture capital platform for young entrepreneurs. He was ranked 1121 by Forbes.
5. Nandan Nilekani: Nilekani is a co-founder of Infosys. He was the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India’s technology committee, TAGUP.
With an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, Nilekani was ranked 1121 by Forbes.
6. Binny Bansal: Bansal is the co-founder of Flipkart, the largest e-commerce platform in India. Binny is from Chandigarh and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.
He served as the Chief Operating Officer of Flipkart until January 11, 2016 and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer. His net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion. He was ranked 1476 by Forbes.
7. Sachin Bansal: Bansal was ranked 1476 in the Forbes list of richest people. The co-founder of Flipkart is an engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
He served as the chief executive of Flipkart until January 2016 and assumed the role of executive chairman subsequently. He has a net worth of $1.2 billion.
8. K Dinesh: Dinesh is the co-founder of Infosys. He served as the Member of the Board of Infosys from 1981 – 2011. In 2011, he retired as the Head of Quality, Information Systems, and the Communication Design Group. With a net worth of $1.2 billion, he was ranked 1476 by Forbes.
9. SD Shibulal: Shibulal is the co-founder of Infosys. He was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Infosys. He stepped down from the post of CEO and MD on July 31, 2014. His net worth is estimated at $1.1 billion and was ranked 1577 on the Forbes list.