Godrej's Smita Crishna, HCL's Roshni Nadar, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw lead list of India's top 10 wealthiest women

Mumbai: Godrej Group’s Smita Crishna, HCL’s Roshni Nadar and Bennett Coleman’s Indu Jain are among the top 10 wealthiest women in India, a report says. According to the Kotak Wealth and Hurun report, the threshold of net-worth for the top 10 was Rs 8,000 crore. Crishna, a third generation heir of Godrej empire, leads the list with an estimated wealth of Rs 37,570 crore. On the board of Godrej Industries, she owns 1/5th of the Godrej Group alongside her brothers and in 2014, she purchased the bungalow belonging to the late atomic physicist, Dr Homi Bhabha, for Rs 371 crore. Crishna is followed by HCL chief executive officer and executive director Nadar, also the daughter of the company’s founder Shiv Nadar, with the report estimating her wealth to be Rs 30,200 crore. Times Group chairperson Jain is the third woman on the list with her wealth estimated to be Rs 26,240 crore. She is the chairperson of Bennett Coleman & Co, one of the largest media groups in the country which owns brands including The Times of India, The Economic Times and Femina, among others. Besides, she also heads its charitable arm, the Times Foundation, as well as the literary not-for-profit institution, Bharatiya Jnanpith. [caption id=“attachment_2423758” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Reuters[/caption] Biocon founder and managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw with an estimated wealth of Rs 24,790 crore is fourth on the list. She is also on the board of Infosys. Kiran Nadar, wife of Shiv Nadar, is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation and an art collector and she is ranked fifth, with an estimated wealth of Rs 20,120 crore. Nadar is followed by Leena Gandhi Tewari with Rs 10,730 crore, Sangita Jindal with Rs 10,450 crore and Jayshree Ullal with Rs 9,490 crore. Anu Aga and Shradha Agarwal were ranked ninth and tenth with an estimated wealth of Rs 8,550 crore and Rs 8,200 crore, respectively. The report that lists the 100 richest women in India, estimated their average wealth to be about Rs 4,000 crore and the threshold for the ranking above Rs 1,000 crore. “The women in the list have increased from 4 percent in 2012 to 9 percent in 2017. With India’s thriving consumer spending and a maturing tech ecosystem, we expect more women to lead the entrepreneurship story in India,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and chief researcher, Hurun Report India. Sectorwise, pharmaceuticals leads with 22 women, followed by software and services with 12 and food and beverages with eight women. Infosys and Avenue Supermarts produced the highest number of women on the list with five each.

“Although the pharmaceutical sector has cumulatively contributed the most number of entrants in the list, at a company level, Infosys and the listing of Avenue Supermarts (Retail) has contributed to the most number of entrants in Kotak Wealth Hurun - Leading Wealthy Women 2018,” Hurun Report India said.

With 25 women each, Mumbai and New Delhi are the leading cities for India’s super-rich women, followed by Bengaluru with 14. With 27 and 25 entrants respectively, Maharashtra and Delhi are the top two states where the wealthy women reside, while seven live overseas, it noted.