The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022 had featured a 19-year-old startup promoter with a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore, indicating how Indian entrepreneurship is creating teenaged wealth creators of substantial magnitude. Kaivalya Vohra, the co-founder of quick commerce start-up Zepto, drove the company’s valuation to $900 million this year as a teenager, alongside his other co-founder Aadit Palicha who has a net worth of above Rs 1,200 crore. Palicha is 21 years of age.
Anas Rahman Junaid, the founder and managing director of wealth research agency Hurun India, talks about this trend of teenaged Indians creating generational wealth in such short periods of time. He believes that India’s education system should introduce topics like entrepreneurship and wealth creation for schoolchildren. Learning shouldn’t become just an academic exercise and students should be able to relate to the subjects better, he says. Edited excerpts from an interview:
Indian startup millionaires are getting younger and younger. What do you think about the trend?
I believe this is the beginning of a new chapter of wealth creation in India. The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022 has 13 startup founders born after 1990 named in it.
This is bound to have a snowballing effect. The Zepto founders will inspire another set of teenaged founders. The same happened in the US many years ago, thrusting the economy into fast forward. Hopefully, it will happen in India too.
Do you foresee Indian parents encouraging this trend and putting their weight behind the kids?
Earlier, many parents used to put their children into IIT coaching modules from the 5th grade onwards. But I expect things to change soon. Already many parents are encouraging children to become more creative in their pursuits. Entrepreneurship requires a broader mindset and hopefully the parents will acquire it for the benefit of future generations.
What are the contributing factors that have enabled the creation of teenaged millionaires in India? Today’s generation is so financially clued in.
I would give a lot of credit to the founders of India’s first set of unicorns such as Paytm, Zomato, InMobi and so on. Their stories of wealth creation and value creation have been inspiring and in many cases they have given back to the ecosystem through either investments or mentorship. Many of these super young entrepreneurs of today have examples in society to look up to. They do believe that it is indeed possible to create valuable enterprises at a young age.
I would also give a lot of credit to the availability of the internet all over India, mainly on the back of Jio. Knowledge about global unicorns through various lists and other indices and the ability to map some of these opportunities back to India have also played a major role.
Have we Indians gone past the stage of “building wealth is bad”?
I think yes. It is important to understand that India will not be a developed economy unless there are more billion-dollar companies. We need to have more of these super wealth creators.
Wealth creation needs to be celebrated. This is exactly what we are trying to do through the IIFL Wealth Hurun India rich list. There seems to be a cultural shift now.
Once our GDP per capita income becomes more than $3,000, we will experience the best part of the hockey-stick growth curve.
How do you think the Indian education system should keep pace with changing trends, with regard to personal finance and building wealth? Back then, there was no focus in schools on financial matters. Why can’t we have courses designed on real estate, healthcare or personal finance to help our students?
The next 10 years in India is going to be that of entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Transparent wealth creation is a great thing that should be taught right from the beginning of the curriculum.
It’s time to create a subject on entrepreneurship at the school level or at least as a significant segment within a subject. We have to specifically cover topics that deal with Indian entrepreneurship. Let the students learn more about Indian entrepreneurs who have found solutions for Indian markets.
It’ll be interesting if someone can put together comic books around entrepreneurship and business to create interest among children at an early age—something like an Amar Chitra Katha. That should do wonders.
Are we still cagey about talking to children and school students about wealth and personal finance?
Creating wealth is an art that should be spoken about. If the rich class starts talking more about it in the open, more people will get inspired. I remember that as an Oxford University student sitting for a Citibank internship interview, I couldn’t answer questions on valuation methodologies. I doubt whether I knew the number of zeroes in one billion, back then.
But today my six-year-old son tells me why we should buy an under-construction property in Dubai. He knows that a fully completed project will be too costly.
Would you say that our approach towards finance and commerce at schools and colleges is too boring?
We have to make these subjects very relatable. When I used to study Chemistry at school, I used to wonder why I’m learning all these complex terms and names. What is the use of knowing that NaCl is common salt? But today as a creator of rich lists, I know that petrochemicals have created so many billionaires around the world. It’s important to relate to subjects in a more useful and interesting way.
So, when I am learning about benzene, for example, if I’m taught about the financial possibilities and market dynamics around it, then I’m likely to take greater interest in the subject. Learning shouldn’t just be an academic exercise.
How do you see the remainder of this decade evolving as far as wealth creation trends go?
I see more women becoming huge wealth creators. A number of next-generation entrepreneurs will be women. I can already see that with real estate group Brigade, for example, where a succession plan is in place with Pavitra Shankar and Nirupa Shankar coming into the top brass. It’s happening at Godrej too.
The EV (electric vehicle) sector is going to boom, creating many more billionaires. In telecom there will be a revolution with the advent of 5G and 6G. Real estate is also going to generate a number of new entrepreneurs who will create substantial value.
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