Akshata Murty first hit headlines this year when it was revealed that she had retained her non-domicile status and managed to avoid hefty tax bills on a personal business.
The new First Lady of Downing Street, Akshata Murty is the daughter of an Indian Billionaire Narayana Murthy, one of the country’s best-known businessmen. He is the founder of the tech firm Infosys and reportedly worth $4.5 billion.
Murthy’s daughter, Akshata currently holds a 1% stake in the firm, which is believed to be worth nearly £700m. Akshata’s mother is Sudha Murty, an Indian engineering teacher, author, and social worker who is now chairperson of the Infosys Foundation.
In 2001 her novel India Dollar Bahu was adapted for television, and she acted in the film Pitruroon, based on another of her stories. The family is also involved in a joint venture with Amazon in India, estimated to be worth £900m.
Akshata Murty’s family uses two different spellings for their surname – Murty, and Murthy – with her father favouring the latter. Her mother uses the spelling of Murty, which has been adopted by her daughter.
Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty tied the knot in Bengaluru, India in 2009 and will be taking up residence on the famous street with their two daughters Krishna and Anoushka.
They own a five-bedroom townhouse and a flat in London, as well as a lavish family manor house sitting on 12 acres of grounds in Kirby Sigston, North Yorkshire.
Akshata studied economics and French at Claremont McKenna College in California and later went on to study Fashion Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, before getting an MBA from Stanford. It was there that she met Sunak, who was studying in the US on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship. The couple married four years later.
The 42-year-old began her career in finance in California before starting her own fashion label, Akshata Designs, which launched its first collection in 2011. She told Vogue India, about working with artists in remote Indian villages to create her designs, which were about “ authenticity, craftsmanship, and protecting a rich heritage”. However, the Guardian reported that the business venture collapsed within 3 years.
One of her main business interests is the London-based offshoot of Catamaran Ventures, with Mr Sunak in 2013, and invests in start-ups. She also owns one UK-based venture capital company and is a director or direct shareholder in at least five other UK companies- one of which is Jamie Oliver’s Pizza restaurants.
She also has a stake in Wendy’s Burger chain in India. Her total net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is around $1.2billion – significantly.
Source: Scotsman.
