HCL Technologies heiress Roshni Nadar Malhotra continues to be the wealthiest Indian woman for a second year, with assets of over Rs 84,330 crore. The second place, however, has seen a change with e-commerce firm Nykaa’s founder Falguni Nayar overtaking Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon to become the richest self-made woman in India with a wealth of Rs 57,520 crore.
The wealth of the 100 richest women in India has grown with the cut-off for the new list rising to Rs 300 crore as against Rs 100 crore in 2020. The details of India’s wealthiest women are compiled annually in the ‘Kotak Private Banking Hurun – Leading Wealthy Women List’. The women on the 2021 list have an average wealth of around Rs 4,170 crore as against Rs 2,725 crore in the previous edition.
Despite the increase in wealth, the gender disparity is quite stark. While the wealth of the top 100 women is 2.8% of the GDP, the top 100 in Hurun’s general rich list account for nearly 39% of the GDP. According to Anas Rahman Junaid, MD & chief researcher at Hurun India, there is a correlation between women’s participation in management and being on the rich list.
Three professional managers made it to the list, led by Pepsico’s Indra Nooyi with a wealth of Rs 5,040 crore. The other two are Renu Sud Karnad of HDFC (Rs 870 crore) and Shanti Ekambaram of Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 320 crore) because of the gains in the value of the shares they received as executives. There are 25 new faces on the list, led by Neha Narkhede (wealth of Rs 13,380 crore), co-founder of streaming data technology company Confluent. She is the only Indian woman to feature in the ‘Hurun Global U40 Self-made Billionaires List 2022’.
Among the eight startup founders, Divya Gokulnath (36) of Byju’s and Ruchi Kalra (38) of Of Business have registered a wealth of Rs 4,550 crore and Rs 2,600 crore, respectively. With four entrants, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise contributed the maximum number of women leaders in the list, followed by Metro Shoes and Devi Sea Foods, which contributed two entrants each to the list.
