Roshni Nadar Malhotra tops Kotak-Hurun list of wealthiest Indian women, Falguni Nayar second

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson, HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies chief Roshni Nadar Malhotra has topped the list of "leading wealthy women 2021", published by Hurun Report India
in collaboration with Kotak Private Banking on July 27.

Malhotra's wealth, as per the list, climbed by 54 percent over the past year to reach Rs 84,330 crore. She is followed by Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar, who has overtaken Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for the second spot.

Nayar's net worth surged by a massive 963 percent to touch Rs 57,520 crore, said a release issued by Kotak Private Banking and Hurun India. The wealth of Mazumdar-Shaw, who is ranked third, dropped by 21 percent to Rs 29,030 crore.

Nayar is "India’s richest self-made woman" and "the world’s tenth richest self-made woman", the release stated.

Divi's Laboratories' Nilima Motaparti and Radha Vembu, the sister of Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, retained the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. While Motaparti's wealth stood at Rs 28,180 crore, Vembu's net worth was stated as Rs 26,260 crore.

USV's Leena Gandhi Tewari stands sixth with wealth of Rs 24,280 crore, and Thermax's Anu Aga and Meher Pudumjee are ranked seventh with Rs 14,530 crore.

Confluent co-founder Neha Narkhede, ranked eighth, is the latest entrant in the top 10, with a net worth of Rs 13,380 crore. The ninth and tenth ranks have been secured by Dr Lal PathLabs' Vandana Lal and Hero Fincorp managing director Renu Munjal, with a wealth of Rs 6,810 crore and Rs 6,620 crore, respectively.

The Kotak-Hurun list features a total of 100 richest women in India, with a one-fourth of them being described as "new-entrants".

"Wealth of the women featured in the list has almost tripled during the last
year. The cut-off for the new list is Rs 300 crore, as against Rs 100 crore in the last list," Kotak Private Banking and Hurun India said in a release.

The total wealth of the top 100 women on the list surged by 53 percent to Rs 4,16,970 crore from Rs 2,72,540 crore in 2020, it noted, adding that the cumulative wealth of the women wealth creators contributes to two percent of India’s nominal GDP.

The preferred city of residence for one-fourth of the women featured in the list is Delhi NCR region, followed by Mumbai and Hyderabad, housing 21 and 12 residents respectively, the release said.

The current average age in the list has increased by two to 55 years, as
compared to the rankings issued last year.

The list includes eight start-up founders, with Divya Gokulnath of
BYJU’s (ranked 36th) and Ruchi Kalra of OfBusiness (ranked 38th) registering a wealth of Rs 4,550 crore and Rs 2,600 crore, respectively.

Three professional managers made it to the list. With a wealth of Rs 5,040
crore, PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi (66) is the richest professional manager.

In terms of the industries to which the richest women belong, pharmaceuticals leads the list with 12 entrants, followed by healthcare
with 11 entrants and consumer goods with 9 women entrants.

With four entrants, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise contributed maximum
number of women leaders in the list, followed by Metro Shoes and Devi
Sea Foods which contributed two entrants each.