Akshata Narayan Murty (; born April 1980) is an Indian heiress, businesswoman, fashion designer and venture capitalist. She is married to
Rishi Sunak, the
prime minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
and
leader of the Conservative Party. According to the ''
Sunday Times Rich List'', Murty and Sunak are the 222nd richest people in Britain , with a combined wealth of £730 million (US$830 million).
In 2022, her personal wealth became the topic of British media discussion in the context of her claim of
non-domiciled status in the United Kingdom, an arrangement seen as benefiting the "
super rich". Murty later voluntarily renounced the fiscal benefits from her non-domiciled status.
Akshata Murty is the daughter of
N. R. Narayana Murthy, a founder of the Indian multinational IT company
Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is the s ...
, and
Sudha Murty
Sudha Murty (' Kulkarni; born 19 August 1951) is an Indian educator, author and philanthropist who is chairperson of the Infosys F ...
. She holds a 0.93-per-cent stake in Infosys, along with shares in several other British businesses.
Early life and education
Akshata Murty was born in April 1980 in
Hubli
Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...
, India,
and was raised by her maternal grandparents while her father
N. R. Narayana Murthy and her mother
Sudha Murty
Sudha Murty (' Kulkarni; born 19 August 1951) is an Indian educator, author and philanthropist who is chairperson of the Infosys F ...
worked to launch their technology company,
Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is the s ...
.
Her mother was the first female engineer to work for the
TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company
Tata or TATA may refer to:
Places
* Jamshedpur, a city in Jharkhand, India also known as Tatanagar or Tata
* Tata, Hungary, a town in Hungary
* Tata Islands, a pair of small islands off the coast of New Zealand
* Tata, Morocco, a city in Tat ...
, then India's largest car maker, and later became a philanthropist. Murty has one brother,
Rohan Murty
Rohan Narayana Murty is a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, founder of the Murty Classical Library of India and founder and chief technical officer of the digital transformation company Soroco, which specialises in automation u ...
,
and they were brought up in
Jayanagar, a suburb of
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
. Her maternal grandparents were R. H. Kulkarni, a surgeon, and his wife Vimala Kulkarni, a school teacher.
In the 1990s, Murty attended
Baldwin Girls' High School
Baldwin Girls' High School (BGHS), founded in 1880, is an all-girls Methodist school and one of the oldest in Bangalore, India. The school follows the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education syllabus and has classes from pre-nursery up to the ...
, Bangalore, and in 1998 studied economics and French at
Claremont McKenna College in California. She has a diploma in clothes manufacturing from the
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) is a private college in downtown Los Angeles. It offers degree programs in majors including fashion, entertainment, beauty, interior design, and graphic design. The college was founded in 19 ...
,
and a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...
from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
Career and investments
In 2007, Murty joined the Dutch
cleantech
Clean technology, in short cleantech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Cle ...
firm Tendris as its marketing director, where she worked for two years, before leaving to start her own fashion firm.
Her fashion label closed in 2012.
In 2013, she became the director of
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
fund Catamaran Ventures.
She co-founded, with her husband
Rishi Sunak, the London branch of the Indian firm owned by her father, N. R. Narayana Murthy. Sunak transferred his shares to her shortly before being elected as the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP for
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
in 2015.
Since 2015, she has owned a 0.91%
or 0.93% share of her father's technology firm
Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is the s ...
, valued at around £700 million in April 2022,
and shares in two of
Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reac ...
's restaurant businesses,
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was t ...
in India, and Koro Kids.
This made her richer than Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
,
and richer than King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
as of October 2022. , Murthy was a director at Digme Fitness, and also Sococo, the
digital transformation
Digital transformation is the adoption of digital technology by an organization to digitize non-digital products, services or operations. The goal for its implementation is to increase value through innovation, invention, customer experience or e ...
company that her brother Rohan Murty co-founded.
Personal life
Murty is a citizen of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In August 2009, Murty married Rishi Sunak, whom she met at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
They have two daughters – Anoushka and Krishna.
They own
Kirby Sigston Manor
Kirby Sigston Manor is a manor house in the village of Kirby Sigston in North Yorkshire, England.
It has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since January 1953. The house primarily dates from 1826. It was expanded i ...
in the village of
Kirby Sigston
Kirby Sigston is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, approximately east of Northallerton. The village is situated on the Cod Beck river, and the wider parish contains the hamlet of Jeater Houses ...
, North Yorkshire, as well as a
mews
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...
house in
Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
in central London, a flat on the
Old Brompton Road
Old Brompton Road is a major street in the South Kensington district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.
It starts from South Kensington Underground station and runs south-west, through a mainly residential area, until i ...
,
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
, and a penthouse apartment on
Ocean Avenue in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
.
In April 2022, it was reported that Sunak and Murty had moved out of
11 Downing Street to a newly refurbished West London home.
In April 2022, Murty's wealth became the focus of British media discussion
that noted her
non-domiciled resident of the United Kingdom, which entitled her to pay no tax on her income outside Britain, subject to an annual payment of £30,000.
Later the same month, Murty announced that she would give up her non-domiciled status and pay
UK taxes on her worldwide income voluntarily.
If Murty pays UK taxes on her worldwide income, but retains her non-domiciliary status, she can benefit from a provision in a 1956 treaty that was designed to help avoid
double taxation
Double taxation is the levying of tax by two or more jurisdictions on the same income (in the case of income taxes), asset (in the case of capital taxes), or financial transaction (in the case of sales taxes).
Double liability may be mitigated in ...
of Indian citizens in India as well as the UK.
References
External links
*
* Bhat, Chandrashekar. (14 April 2022
Rishi Sunak's wife set to receive £6m from Infosys(EasternEye)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murty, Akshata
1980 births
Living people
Claremont McKenna College alumni
Fashion Institute of Technology alumni
Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
Indian company founders
Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Indian fashion designers
Indian women company founders
Murthy family
Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
Sunak family
21st-century Indian businesswomen
Indian women fashion designers
Indian venture capitalists
Women investors