Top 5 young and successful Indian entrepreneurs

India’s population is among the youngest in the world. And, many of these young people are in search of jobs, despite being educated. The government has been working to create employment opportunities for youth, while focusing on economic growth.

Entrepreneurship is one of the mechanisms adopted by the Government of India towards the creation of job opportunities. 

According to reports, approximately 11 to 15 percent of Indians are involved in entrepreneurial activities. Also, only 5 to 10 percent of these entrepreneurs actually proceeded to build their venture. As of now, people are choosing entrepreneurship, but not every person succeeds as an entrepreneur.

As a matter of fact, the stories of these young achievers of India should serve as a motivation to everybody who is thinking outside the box and looking to set up a startup.

YourStory lists five young entrepreneurs who didn't adhere to the customary guidelines of business, but became disrupters in their respective sectors.

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Byju Raveendran

BYJU'S The Learning App is an edtech startup founded by Bjyu Raveendran in 2011. Son of physics and mathematics teachers from Azhikode town in Kannur district of Kerala, Byju Raveendran was a math teacher who turned an entrepreneur.

With a net worth of $2.5 billion, Byju Raveendran is one of the most well-known and successful entrepreneurs in India at present.

The edtech company is valued at around $4 million–$6 million, making Byju one of the richest young entrepreneurs in India. It has about 12,000 employees and trainees.

BYJU'S has been backed by investors like Mark Zuckerberg and Tencent. The BYJU'S application, focused on school children from grades one to twelve (K-12), has enlisted a total of over 64 million downloads.

Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Oyo Rooms, was born in 1993 in Bissam, Cuttack, Odisha. At the age of 13, he began selling SIM cards. After completing his schooling, he went to a college in Delhi, but dropped out and joined the Thiel Fellowship program, funded by billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel.

Agarwal founded his first company Oravel in 2012. Billed to be the Airbnb of India, the company pivoted to OYO Hotels and Homes in 2013 and is currently one of the world's leading chain of hotels. 

Ritesh's current net worth is around $612.1 million, making him one of the most prominent and successful entrepreneurs in the country.

OYO has 4,50,000 listings in 500 urban areas in India, the United States, China, Nepal, Japan, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia.

In 2021, Ritesh received India's second-youngest billionaire position, as per Wikipedia

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the Founder and CEO of Paytm. Son of a school teacher from a small city in north India, he started indiasite.net in 1997 while in college. He sold it for $1 million two years later.

In 2000, he started One97 Communications. The company offered mobile content, including news, cricket scores, ringtones, exam results, and much more.

One97 is the parent company of Paytm, a mobile wallet, which was launched in 2011. Perhaps the greatest recipient of India's 2016 demonetisation, Paytm has indented 400 million users and 25 million transactions per day.

In August 2018, Sharma got Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to invest $300 million in Paytm.

Paytm launched its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2021. Sharma has also made Paytm Mall, an online business, and the Paytm Payments Bank.

Bhavish Agarwal

Bhavish Agarwal was born in Ludhiana and completed his bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2008. Later, Bhavish left a well-paying position at Microsoft to work on Ola Cabs.

In January 2011, Agarwal co-founded Ola Cabs in Bengaluru. In May 2019, Ola estimated its value at about $6.2 billion.

Bhavish upset the idea of cab booking in India by making use of phones. Ola Cabs was not like other taxi services at the time because it used GPS technology and smartphones to make it simple for people to book taxis from anywhere, any time.

Nobody upheld his thoughts except that it was his strong will, determination, and energy to face challenges in life that drove him to the apex of achievement. Bhavish Aggarwal is counted among the best Indian entrepreneurs. Bhavish Agarwal's net worth is $500 million at present.

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Nithin Kamath

Nithin Kamath is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zerodha. He began trading stocks when he was introduced to the markets by his friends at just 17.

Established in 2007, Zerodha spearheaded the discount broking model in India, allowing its users to trade stocks at a lot cheaper cost than the opposition.

Zerodha, which has never raised funding, has over 7 million users. Of these, 5 million are active users. Active users are those traders who have exchanged somewhere around once a year.

Nithin Kamath's net assets have swelled to $1.9 billion, making him the third biggest stock broker in the country, just after ICICI and HDFC.