Byju Raveendran out of Hurun India rich list amid valuation markdowns

Last year, Byju Raveendran saw his personal wealth rise 26 percent to Rs 30,600 crore

Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of the troubled edtech company Byju’s, did not find a mention in the Hurun India rich list of 2023, at the back of investors making multiple valuation markdowns in the company.

Last year, Raveendran saw his personal wealth rise 26 percent to Rs 30,600 crore, Moneycontrol reported.

This comes even as the 2023 360 One Wealth Hurun India Rich List showed that the number of Indians with personal wealth of Rs 1,000 crore or more topped 1,319 for the first time in 2022 and increased by 216 in 2023. Over the last five years, the number has increased by 76 percent.

Meanwhile, stakeholders of Zoho and Zerodha, two profitable and bootstrapped Indian startups, made it to the 2023 list. Radha Vembu, the product manager of Zoho Mail and the owner of a majority stake in Zoho Corporation, the company her brother Sridhar Vembu is the CEO of, stood at number 40 on the list with a wealth of Rs 36,000 crore.

Following her closely were the Zerodha brothers, Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath, at rank 42 with a net worth of Rs 35,300 crore and rank 81 with Rs 23,100 crore respectively. The list also included Nykaa's Falguni Nayar and family with a cumulative wealth of Rs 22,500 crore.

The youngest on the list was Kaivalya Vohra, the co-founder of Zepto at the age of 20. Hurun added that about 10 years ago, the youngest on the list was a 37-year-old entrepreneur, indicating the impact of the startup revolution.

This comes even as the startup founders on the 360 ONE Wealth Hurun India Rich List experienced a collective wealth dip of Rs 85,000 crore amid the funding winter, according to Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

The average age of Indian entrepreneurs on the 2023 360 One Wealth Hurun India Rich List was 41, with a cumulative wealth of Rs 423,600 crore. Of these entrepreneurs, 59 are founders of over 33 Indian unicorns, and two are founders of gazelles, which are defined as companies most likely to "go unicorn" within two years.

Last year,  the total net worth of about 100 Indian entrepreneurs on the list was Rs 5,06,000 crore and an average age of 40. In 2022, about 65 founders of 37 unicorns made it to the list.

“Recent policies, like the retrospective GST imposition on gaming companies and the angel tax and so on, could potentially hinder long-term wealth generation by startups,” he added.

“However, amidst these challenges, there is optimism as some IPOs that stumbled last year are making a comeback,” Junaid said.

Notably, entrepreneurs like Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Yashish Dahiya of PB Fintech have seen their wealth increase by over 70%, the Hurun list highlighted.

Manish Kejriwal of Kedaara Capital became the first Indian private equity fund manager on the rich list with Rs 3,000 crore in net worth.

Among the richest Indian software company leaders were Shiv Nadar and family of HCLTech, with a cumulative net worth of Rs 2,28,900 crore. S. Gopalakrishnan, Azim Premji, and N.R. Narayana Murthy and their respective families also made the list.