Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson of HCL Technologies, has retained her position as India’s richest woman, with a 54% increase in her net worth to 84,330 crore in 2021.
Falguni Nayar, who left her investment banking career to launch the beauty-focused brand Nykaa around a decade ago, has emerged as the richest self-made woman in India, with a net worth of 57,520 crore, according to the Kotak Private Banking-Hurun list published on July 27.
Ms Nayar second richest woman in India
According to the report, Ms Nayar, 59, saw a 963 percent increase in her wealth during the year and is now the second richest woman overall, trailing the 40-year-old Ms Malhotra, the daughter of HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw third richest woman in India
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon has seen her fortune fall by 21% and is now the third richest woman in the country, with a fortune of 29,030 crore, according to the report.
The list of 100 women includes only Indian women who were born or raised in India and are actively managing their businesses or are self-made.
The cumulative wealth of these 100 women has increased by 53% in a year, from 2.72 lakh crore in 2020 to 4.16 lakh crore in 2021, and they now account for 2% of India’s nominal GDP.
Cut-off for making it into top 100
The cut-off for making it into the top 100 has increased to 300 crore from 100 crore previously, and the top 10 cut-off is now at 6,620 crore, a 10% increase from the previous year.
The Delhi-National Capital Region has the most entries on the list, with 25, followed by Mumbai (21) and Hyderabad (12), according to the report.
Pharmaceuticals led the way with 12 entrants, followed by healthcare with 11 and consumer goods with nine women among India’s top 100 richest women.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise contributed four entrants to the list, making it the highest contribution by a single company. It was followed by Metro Shoes and Devi Sea Foods at two entrants each.
Youngest richest women among the 100
Kanika Tekriwal (33y/o) of Bhopal-based Jetsetgo is the youngest on the list with a 50 per cent increase in wealth at ₹ 420 crore.
The list also includes three professional managers, and is led by Indra Nooyi, who was associated with Pepsico with a fortune of ₹ 5,040 crore, followed by Renu Sud Karnad of mortgage lender HDFC at ₹ 870 crore and Shanti Ekambaram of Kotak Mahindra Bank at ₹ 320 crore.
