India’s richest tech billionaires in 2020

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India’s richest tech billionaires in 2020
  • The Hurun Research Institute and India Infoline Wealth have released India Rich List 2020, and few names feature from the technology sector.
  • India’s richest tech billionaire in 2020 is Shiv Nadar and family, Azim Premji and family, and Zscaler’s Jay Chaudry.
  • Not only are edtech app founders Byju Raveendran and family among the top 5 richest tech billionaires, but they are the richest startup founders on the Richest People in India list.
India’s digital economy is thriving, especially in the age of the coronavirus pandemic. More people are looking for ways to connect without physically having to leave the house. And, the country’s tech entrepreneurs are on the job.

The IIFL Hurun India Rich List 2020 ranks the richest people in the country — and quite a few of them are from the technology sector, including a name or two in the start-up segment.

Scroll on to see the the top 10 tech billionaires in India:
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1. Shiv Nadar and family top the list

1. Shiv Nadar and family top the list
BCCL

Net worth: ₹1,41,700 crore

Shiv Nadar and his family, which includes his daughter Roshni Nadar, are the richest tech family in India worth ₹1,41,700 crore. Founders of HCL, the Nadars, saw their wealth increase by 34% this year. Overall, they place third on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.

2. Azim Premji and family

2. Azim Premji and family
BCCL

Net worth: ₹ 1,14,400 crore

The tech czar of the Indian IT industry and the founder of Wipro, Azim Premji and his family are the second richest tech billionaires on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020. Known for his philanthropic efforts, Azim Premji has been slipping in the ranks for a few years now. This year too, he is two places lower than last year and has lost 2% of his wealth.

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3. Jay Chaudhry

3. Jay Chaudhry
Zscaler

Net worth: ₹65,800 crore

Founder, chairman, and CEO of Zscaler — a global cloud-based information security company — Jay Chaudhry is India’s 12th richest person and the 3rd richest tech billionaire.

Some of the other companies he has founded include CipherTrust, AirDefence, Core Harbor, and Secure IT.

4. Byju Raveendran

4. Byju Raveendran

Net worth: ₹ 20,400 crore

Byju Raveendran, ranked 52 overall, is among the top 5 richest tech billionaires in India. This year, he promoted online learning app Byju’s and acquired another ed-tech startup WhiteHat Jr for $300 million. It was an all-cash deal.

Raveendran has gained four places since last year. He also beat all the Infosys founders on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.

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5. S Gopalakrishnan

5. S Gopalakrishnan
BCCL

Net worth: ₹18,100 crore

Infosys’ richest founder S Gopalakrishanan and family are the fifth richest tech billionaires in India and ranked 56 overall. Their net worth has increased by 20% as compared to last year, but their rank has remained the same.

6. NR Narayana Murthy and family

6. NR Narayana Murthy and family
BCCL

Net worth: ₹16,400 crore

Another one of Infosys’ founders NR Narayana Murthy and family are among the top 10 richest tech billionaires in india. Worth ₹16,400 crore, they rank sixth richest among tech billionaires and the 66th richest overall.

Murthy and family only added 1% to their overall wealth this year, leading to a drop of eight spots in the overall ranking.

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7. ​Anurang Jain

7. ​Anurang Jain
BCCL

Net worth: ₹16,000 crore

Anurang Jain and family rank 67th in the overall Hurun Rich List 2020, but are the seventh richest tech billionaires in India.

The owners of Endurance Technologies, the family’s overall wealth increased by 55%, and they jumped 29 spots in the overall list as compared to last year.

8. Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi

8. Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi
Celeb Family

Net worth: ₹15,700 crore

The power partnership behind Syntel, Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi, are worth ₹15,700. Adding 4% to their net wealth this year, the two fell around eight spots in the overall list ranking 70th.

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​9. Divyank Turakhia​

​9. Divyank Turakhia​
Wikimedia

Net worth: ₹14,000 crore

Ranking 78th in the top 100 list of the richest Indians, Media.net founder Divyank Turakhia is the 9th richest tech billionaire in the country.

Media.net is a leading online ad-tech company that develops products for advertisers and publishers. It was acquired by the Chinese consortium led by Zhiyong Zhang, the chairman of Beijing Miteno Communication Technology, for a whopping $900 million in an all-cash transaction two years ago.

He’s known for being a car geek and bought his ‘first fancy car’ — a Porsche — at the age of 25.

10. Kavitark Ram Shriram

10. Kavitark Ram Shriram
Wikimedia

Net worth: ₹13,600 crore

Kavitark Ram Shriram is the 10th richest tech billionaire in India. He used to work for Jeff Bezos at Amazon when it initially acquired Junglee in August 1998.

Shriram was also one of the first investors in Google, and a founding board member at the Silicon Valley tech behemoth. At one time, he owned 3.4 million shares of Google.

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​Honorable mention: Nandan Nilekani and SD Shibulal clung on with a net worth of ₹ 12,000 crore

​Honorable mention: Nandan Nilekani and SD Shibulal clung on with a net worth of ₹ 12,000 crore
BCCL

Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani and SD Shibulal just barely made it onto the list ranked 99 overall. Nilekani fell 12 spots in the overall ranking even though his wealth increased by 9% as compared to last year. Shibulal saw an uptake of 25% and actually climbed up 8 spots to debut onto the list.

Nilekani and Sibhulal feature alongside Zoho’s Radha Vembu also worth ₹12,000 crore and part of the Software and Services category.