Despite the increase in wealth, the gender disparity is quite stark
Female business tycoon Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the chairperson of Indian tech giant HCL Technologies Limited, remains the richest woman in the country— for the second consecutive year— with a wealth of Rs843.3 billion, according to the ‘Leading Wealthy Women 2021’ report published by Hurun India, in collaboration with Kotak Private Banking.
Falguni Nayar, the founder and CEO of fashion e-commerce hub Nykaa, with a wealth of Rs575.2 billion, comes in second place. Although there is a wide gap between the first two spots in terms of wealth, Nayar is the country's richest self-made woman. She also occupies the tenth spot in the list of the world's richest self-made women.
Biopharmaceutical giant Biocon founder (and CEO) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw occupies the third place on this list, with a wealth of Rs290.3 billion.
The wealth of the 100 richest women in India has grown, with the cut-off for the new list rising to Rs300 crore as against Rs100 crore in 2020. The details of India’s wealthiest women are compiled annually in the ‘Kotak Private Banking Hurun - Leading Wealthy Women List’.The women on the 2021 list have an average wealth of around Rs41.7 billion as against Rs27.25 billion in the previous edition.
Despite the increase in wealth, the gender disparity is quite stark. While the wealth of the top 100 women is 2.8 per cent of the GDP, the top 100 in Hurun’s general rich list account for nearly 39 per cent of the GDP.
According to Anas Rahman Junaid, MD & chief researcher at Hurun India, there is a positive correlation between women’s participation in management and being on the rich list.
ALSO READ: