Roshni Nadar remains India's richest woman; Nykaa's Falguni Nayar follows

HCL Technologies Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra has retained her position as the richest woman in India, with a 54 percent jump in her networth to Rs 84,330 crore in 2021.

Falguni Nayar, who quit her investment banking career to start the beauty-focused brand Nykaa, has emerged as the richest self-made woman, with a net worth of Rs 57,520 crore, as per the Kotak Private Banking-Hurun list published on Wednesday.

Falguni, who is 59, saw a 963 percent increase in her wealth during the year, and is also the second-richest woman overall, trailing 40-year-old Roshni, the daughter of HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar, as per the report.

Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw witnessed a 21 percent decline in her fortune, and has moved down one rank to be the third richest woman in the country with a wealth of Rs 29,030 crore, it said.

The list of 100 women accounts for only Indian women, defined as born or brought up in India, who are actively managing their businesses or are self-made.

The cumulative wealth of these 100 women has increased 53 percent in a year to Rs 4.16 lakh crore in 2021 from Rs 2.72 lakh crore in 2020, and they now contribute 2 percent of India's nominal GDP.

The cut-off for making it into the top 100 has increased to Rs 300 crore from Rs 100 crore earlier, and the top 10 cut-off is at Rs 6,620 crore, which is a 10 per cent jump from the previous year.

Highest number of entrants in the list are from Delhi-National Capital Region at 25, followed by Mumbai (21) and Hyderabad (12), it said.

When looked at from a sectoral perspective, pharmaceuticals led with 12 entrants followed by healthcare at 11, and consumer goods with nine women in the top 100 richest women in India.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise contributed four entrants to the list, making it the highest contribution by a single company. It was followed by Metro Shoes and Devi Sea Foods at two entrants each.

Kanika Tekriwal (33y/o) of Bhopal-based Jetsetgo is the youngest on the list with a 50 per cent increase in wealth at Rs 420 crore.

The list also includes three professional managers, and is led by Indra Nooyi, who was associated with Pepsico with a fortune of Rs 5,040 crore, followed by Renu Sud Karnad of mortgage lender HDFC at Rs 870 crore and Shanti Ekambaram of Kotak Mahindra Bank at Rs 320 crore.