Byju’s CEO richer than Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Nandan Nilekani, Bharti Mittal; becomes 67th richest Indian

Byju Raveendran, founder of startup Byju's, is now richer than Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Anand Mahindra, Nandan Nilekani, Bharti Mittal, and other

Byju Raveendran, founder of startup Byju’s, is now richer than Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Nandan Nilekani, Bharti Mittal, Anand Mahindra, and others, according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List. Byju Raveendran and family are now worth Rs 24,300 crore, a 19 per cent jump from the previous year. This year, Byju’s acquired Aakash Educational Services, Singapore-based Great Learning, and a California-based digital reading platform Epic, making him the 67th richest person in India. EdTech giant Byju’s spent over Rs 15,000 crore for acquisitions this year alone. In a span of five years, Raveendran has climbed 504 ranks, the most by anyone on the list.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and family’s wealth stood at Rs 22,300 crore, Anand Mahindra and family’s at Rs 22,000 crore and Nandan Nilekani and family’s at Rs 20,900 crore, and Rajan Bharti Mittal and family’s at Rs 20,500 crore. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and family’s total wealth witnessed a jump of over 50 per cent from the previous year, while Anand Mahindra’s wealth soared by 57 per cent as compared to the last year. Nandan Nilekani and family’s wealth has grown by 74 per cent in the last one year, while Bharti Mittal’s wealth rose by 30 per cent from last year.

The rise of Indian Unicorns shows the future and potential for exponential wealth creation in India. According to the list, 46 entrepreneurs on the list were founders of unicorns and 3 were founders of gazelles, defined as most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within two years. India ranked third in terms of the number of unicorns featured in the list at 52, according to Hurun India Future Unicorn List 2021. The cumulative wealth contributed by the Indian Unicorn and Gazelle listers to the rich list increased by 35 per cent to Rs 2,32,000 crore.

The report highlighted that the youngest ten years ago was 37 and today in 2021, is 23, indicating the impact of the startup revolution. Shashvat Nakrani of payment app BhartaPe, 23, is the youngest in the list, and is three years younger than the youngest last year. New Delhi-based Nakrani is the youngest self-made individual. Shashvat Nakrani co-founded FinTech start-up BharatPe at the age of 19, when he was a third-year student in IIT Delhi. It may be noted that the number of entrants in IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List has grown from just under 100 ten years ago to 1,007 today.