Richest Indian tech honchos

Richest Indian tech honchos





Indian technology honchos never had it so good. More so now when the stock markets are on fire and their market cap is going up by leaps and bounds. Little wonder then that when the Forbes magazine came out with its list of richest Indians, there are a number of Indian technology entrepreneurs in the list.

We bring you top eight of the list of top 50 richest Indians selected by Forbes.

Azim Premji





The richest Indian techie Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Group, ranks fifth on the Forbes list with a net worth of $14.8 billion. A graduate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, US, Premji took on the mantle of leadership at Wipro at the age of 21, after the sudden demise of his father in 1966.

Under his leadership, the fledgling $ 2-million hydrogenated cooking fat company has grown to a $1.76 billion IT Services organisation serving customers across the globe. This year Wipro acquired outsourcing firm Infocrossing; bought Southeast Asian personal care products outfit Unza; opened software development center in Mexico. Son Rishad, Harvard Business School graduate, joined Wipro in July this year, setting buzz about a succession plan.

Over the years, Azim Premji has received many honors and accolades. He was adjudged the Business Man of the Year 2000 by Business India and as the Business Leader of the Year 2004 by the Economic Times. Financial Times included him in the list of top 25 billionaires who have done most to bring about significant and lasting social, political or cultural changes (November 2004). Time listed him (April 2004) as one amongst 100 most influential people in the world. He was named by Fortune (August 2003) as one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US, Forbes (March 2003) listed him as one of ten people globally, who have the most "power to effect change".

The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education have both conferred honorary doctorates on him. He is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Committee for Trade and Industry in India. In January 2005, the Government of India conferred upon him the Padmabhushan, one of the highest civilian awards in the country.

Sunil Bharti Mittal





With a net worth of $12.5 billion Founder, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal is the second richest Indian techie and sixth richest Indian on the Forbes list. Bharti AirTel, one of the India's leading private integrated telecom company, has been at the forefront of the telecom revolution.

Sunil started his career at a young age of 18 after graduating from Punjab University and founded Bharti, with a modest capital, in the year 1976. Today, he heads a successful enterprise, among the top five in India, with a market capitalisation of over $ 35 billion employing over 30,000 people.

Bharti has grown successfully in partnership with various leading companies of the world - Singapore Telecom, Vodafone, Warburg Pincus, British Telecom to name a few.

The other businesses in the group are communication & media devices (Beetel), life insurance with AXA of France (Bharti AXA), and a joint venture with the Rothschild group to develop Indian horticulture and export fruits and vegetables to the world (FieldFresh).

Bharti has recently entered into a JV with Wal-Mart for setting up supply chain, logistics and cash and carry to support the burgeoning retail market in India.

Sunil is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, MA, USA. He has been conferred one of the highest civilian award - Padma Bhushan. Sunil has been conferred the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology.

Shiv Nadar





HCL founder Shiv Nadar is the third richest techie with a net worth of $4.3 billion and ranks 18 on Forbes list. At a time when India had a total of 250 computers, Shiv Nadar led a young team which passionately believed and betted on the growth of IT industry. That vision in 1976, born out of a Delhi garage three decades later in creating a $4.4-billion global enterprise. HCL today employs 51,000 professionals, has a global presence in 18 countries spanning locations in the US, Europe and Japan.

Nadar started US operations in the in 1988. In 1987 ELCINA the body representing the electronic industry in India nominated Nadar as the Man of the Year. In December 1995, Nadar was nominated the Dataquest IT Man of the Year. The scorching pace did not go unnoticed nationally or internationally. Nadar is a member of the Executive Board of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

From modest beginning three decades ago, Shiv Nadar made it to the Forbes List of billionaires for the first time in the year 2000.

NR Narayana Murthy





NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, is 37th on the Forbes list with a net worth of $1.69 billion. He founded Infosys in 1981 along with six other software professionals and served as the CEO for 21 years before handing over the reins of the company to co-founder Nandan M Nilekani in March 2002. Under his leadership, Infosys was listed on NASDAQ in 1999. He served as the Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor from 2002 to 2006.

Murthy is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. The Economist ranked him 8th on its list of 15 most admired global leaders in 2005. He was ranked 28th among the world's most respected business leaders by The Financial Times in 2005.

Murthy holds a BE (Electrical) from the University of Mysore (1967) and MTech (Electrical) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1969). He has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by leading universities across the world.

Anurag Dikshit





Anurag Dikshit is the 40th richest Indian on the Forbes list. Developmental engineer turned online gambling mogul owns 28 per cent of Internet casino company PartyGaming. Company founder, American Ruth Parasol, launched Starluck Casino on the Internet in 1997. Dikshit joined the company in 1998; wrote company's betting software, which enables gamblers around the world to play one another in poker.

Dikshit sold large part of the shares; left the company's board in 2006. The company’s stock has been down 80 per cent since 2005 peak due to new US laws banning financial groups from facilitating online bets.

Dikshit earned degree in computer science and engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Dikshit worked as a software developer in the United States at CMC, as a systems analyst for Websci and later as a consultant for AT&T.

Jignesh Shah





Jignesh Shah is ranked 43 in Forbes richest Indian list with a personal worth of $1.37 billion. Shah is CEO of Financial Technologies Group and has set up India's largest commodities exchange Multi Commodity Exchange.

He founded Financial Technologies in 1995 as a software company with a valuation of $10,000. A decade later, the Mumbai-based company has grown over $2 billion in market capitalisation and is globally recognised as among the top 10 leaders in financial technology infrastructure and commodity exchanges.

The FTIL Group has launched fast growing companies operating in the commodities and exchange sectors. Shah has been recognised as among the youngest first generation Indian billionaires by Forbes Magazine, and was recently honoured with the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2006 for Business Transformation.

Nandan M Nilekani




Nandan M Nilekani is ranked at 45 with a personal wealth of $1.26 billion. Nilekani is the Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited. From March 2002 to June 22, 2007, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director and has previously held the posts of President and Chief Operating Officer. He is one of the founders of Infosys and has served as a director on the company’s board since its inception in 1981.

In January 2006, Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board. He is listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, 2006.

Nilekani is the recipient of several awards. He was the Forbes “Businessman of the Year” in 2007. He, along with Infosys founder (and currently non-executive chairman) NR Narayana Murthy, received Fortune magazine's `Asia’s Businessmen of the Year 2003' award. He was named among the `World's most respected business leaders' in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In 2006, Nilekani was conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India. Nandan received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India in 1978.
Nandan M Nilekani is ranked at 45 with a personal wealth of $1.26 billion. Nilekani is the Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited. From March 2002 to June 22, 2007, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director and has previously held the posts of President and Chief Operating Officer. He is one of the founders of Infosys and has served as a director on the company’s board since its inception in 1981.

In January 2006, Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board. He is listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine, 2006.

Nilekani is the recipient of several awards. He was the Forbes “Businessman of the Year” in 2007. He, along with Infosys founder (and currently non-executive chairman) NR Narayana Murthy, received Fortune magazine's `Asia’s Businessmen of the Year 2003' award. He was named among the `World's most respected business leaders' in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In 2006, Nilekani was conferred the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India. Nandan received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India in 1978.

S Gopalakrishnan

Infosys Technologies Chief Executive Officer S Gopalakrishnan (Kris to his colleagues) is ranked at 49th on the Forbes list with a net worth of $1.18 billion.

One of the founders of Infosys Technologies Limited, Kris took over from Nandan M Nilekani as the CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Limited on On June 22, 2007. Kris previously served as Chief Operating Officer (since April 2002), and as the President and Joint Managing Director (since August 2006). His responsibilities included Customer Services, Technology, Investments and Acquisitions.

Kris' initial responsibilities at Infosys included management of design, development, implementation and support of information systems for clients in the consumer products industry in the US. Between 1987 and 1994 he headed the technical operations of KSA/Infosys (a joint venture between Infosys and KSA at Atlanta, USA) as Vice President (Technical). In 1994, Kris returned to India and was appointed Deputy Managing Director of the company.

Kris holds MSc (Physics) and MTech (Computer Science) degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. He began his career with Patni Computer Systems (PCS), Mumbai, as a software engineer in 1979 and quickly rose to become an assistant project manager by 1981. His seminal contribution during his stint at PCS was the development of a distributed process control system for controlling LD converters at Rourkela Steel Plant.