India is the world's largest democracy, and its economy has been growing
rapidly over the past few decades. As a country, it also holds the
second-largest native population behind China. Not surprisingly, India has
produced a number of billionaire businessmen and businesswomen.
Although there are still many who live in poverty due to India's high
levels of income inequality, the country has maintained a long tradition of
entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- India
is a growing emerging market and the world's largest democracy.
- While
the country still has large numbers of people living in extreme poverty,
there are also a number of prominent, wealthy Indian entrepreneurs and
businessmen.
- India
has a long tradition of entrepreneurship and enterprise, dating back to
the early 20th century.
Top 10 Indian Entrepreneurs
1. Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002) is an Indian businessman who
started out humbly by selling traditional snacks to religious pilgrims. His
business soon grew, and he expanded and diversified into industries
including telecommunications, power generation, information technology,
consumer goods, and logistics.
Today, Reliance Industries is India's largest
private company and is listed on the Fortune 500. Ambani's sons
now run Reliance and are some of India's wealthiest people: Mukesh Ambani, 63,
is worth over $51.78 billion and Anil Ambani, 60, used to be the
sixth-richest person in the world, is now worth an estimated $109 million.
2. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata or JRD Tata (1904-1993) was born in Paris
to Indian and French parents. He was trained as an aviator in Europe and later
became India's first commercial airline pilot. Working for the family
business, TATA group, he set out on his own and built
TATA Airlines, which ultimately became the modern Air India.
By the time of JRD Tata's death, TATA owned nearly 100 different
businesses across many industries. Notably, his
automobile venture, Tata Motors (TTM), produces economical automobiles that
nearly all working Indians can afford to own. JRD Tata is
descended from Jamsetji Tata who founded the TATA group of companies in the
mid-1800s.
3. Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, age 73, is an Indian
entrepreneur who co-founded IT giant Infosys (INFY) with an initial investment of 10,000
rupees, or just a few hundred dollars in today's terms.
With a net worth of $2.1 billion, he is often
referred to as the father of the Indian IT industry, serving as CEO of Infosys
from 1981 until 2002, and then its
chairman until 2011. As of April 2020, Infosys has a
market capitalization of around $37 billion.
4. Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar, 74, founded HCL Infosystems in
1976 with an investment of a few thousand dollars, selling calculators and
microcomputers. HCL soon expanded to Singapore and the far
east, generating over 1 million rupees in sales not long after its
expansion. HCL has continued to grow, making Nadar a billionaire worth over
$12.4 billion.
5. Lakshmi Niwas Mittal
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, 69, is an Indian entrepreneur who began his career
working for his father's steel business. He later set out on his own, due to
family infighting and created what is now one of the largest steelmakers in the
world, ArcelorMittal (MT). As of April 2020, ArcelorMittal has a
market capitalization of over $10 billion. Mittal himself is
worth nearly $9 billion.
6. Ghanshyam Das Birla
Ghanshyam Das Birla (1894-1983) is a well-known Indian businessman who
started his first company in the early 1900s operating a cotton
and textile mill. By 1919, Birla's businesses also included significant
paper and sugar production. By the time he died, Birla Group was a
multi-sector global conglomerate.
His great-grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla, 52, now runs the company and
commands a net worth of $7.2 billion.
7. Dilip Shanghvi
Dilip Shanghvi, 64, started Sun Pharmaceuticals in
1982 with a meager 10,000 rupee investment, or approximately $200. As the son
of a pharmaceutical distributor, Shanghvi knew what he was doing. Today,
through gradual development and a series of acquisitions, that investment has
grown to a value of nearly 2 trillion rupees, making Sun India's largest
pharmaceutical company. Today, Shanghvi has a net worth of around $7.7
billion.
8. Azim Premji
Azim Premji, 74, is worth an estimated $6 billion and is the former
chairman of Wipro Industries (WIT), a diversified
software and technology company that many have compared to Microsoft.
Premji is sometimes referred to as India's Bill Gates as a result,
alongside his informal title as "czar" of the Indian IT industry.
9. Mukesh Jagtiani
Mukesh "Micky" Jagtiani, 68, is an Indian-Emirati businessman
who has spent most of his life outside of India. While he was educated in
Mumbai and Beirut, he moved to London for accounting school, before dropping
out. Soon, starting his first company while driving a taxi, his company
eventually grew into the retail and real estate giant Landmark, now based out of Dubai.
In recent years, Landmark has even expanded into
e-commerce. Jagtiani is worth about $1.8 billion.
10. Ardeshir Godrej
Ardeshir Godrej (1868-1936) co-founded the Godrej
Group, a diversified conglomerate with interests in real estate,
consumer products, security, household appliances, and industrial tools. The
company had modest beginnings—Ardeshir and his brother succeeded at
locksmithing after failed ventures into hand-fashioned medical devices.
Godrej Group was founded in 1897, and the Godrej companies have
revenues of over $4.7 billion today. His grandson, Adi
Godrej, who runs the company, is worth $1.9 billion.
$2,010
The GDP per capita
in India, which has risen in recent years.
The Bottom Line
India has a long tradition of entrepreneurship, but with its own
distinct flavor. Rather than founding technology firms, many Indian
entrepreneurs came from hard-working, humble beginnings and created
conglomerates that were passed down from generation to generation as family
businesses. But that's not to say that future Indian entrepreneurs won't focus
on technology and help drive India's economic growth.
Still, we should not forget that GDP per capita in this country of over
1 billion people is just $2,010 per year, demonstrating one of the highest
rates of income inequality in the world.
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