Now Rishi Sunak has officially been named the UK’s 57th prime minister, the third occupant of 10 Downing Street in less than three months, our attention is turned to his family, namely his wife, Akshata Murty. An heiress to a fortune worth billions, Murty has already had her fair share of media attention but who exactly is Akshata Murty? Here’s everything you need to know.
Who is Akshata Murty and how did she meet Rishi Sunak?
The daughter of Indian billionaire Narayana Murthy, one of the country’s best known businessmen who has been dubbed the Bill Gates of India, Akshata’s family had surprisingly humble beginnings.
Published letters revealed that her father heard about the news of her birth in 1980 from a colleague because the family could not afford a telephone. The letter read: “Your mother and I were young then and struggling to find our feet in our careers.” he wrote.
When she was just a few months old, Akshata was sent to live with her paternal grandparents as her mother, Sudha Murty, and her father advanced their careers in Mumbai. A year later, her father co-founded Infosys, an IT services company which would go on to make him one of India’s richest men.
You might notice that the family use two different spellings for their surname – Murty and Murthy – her father favours the latter, while her mother uses the spelling Murty, which has been adopted by Akshata too.
Akshata went on to study economics and French at the private liberal Claremont McKenna College in California. She then gained a diploma at a fashion college before working at Deloitte and Unilever and studying for an MBA at Stanford University. It was at Stanford that she met Rishi Sunak, who was then a Fulbright Scholar with a first class degree from Oxford University.
The couple married four years later in 2009 in a two-day ceremony in Bengaluru. Rishi said during his campaign last year against Liz Truss that he was grateful that Akshata gave the “short kid with backpack” a chance.
The couple have two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka Sunak.
Akshata began her career in finance in California before starting her own fashion label, Akshata Designs, which launched its first collection in 2011. According to news sources the business collapsed within three years.
What is Akshata Murty’s net worth and what does she do?
According to The Times, Akshata and Rishi Sunak have a net worth of £730m, making Rishi the wealthiest politician ever to appear in the Sunday Times Rich List.
One of Akshata’s main business interests is the London-based offshoot of Catamaran Ventures, which was founded by her and Rishi in 2013 and invests in start-ups.
On Companies House, Akshata is also listed as a director of Digme Fitness, a gym chain but the company was put into administration in February this year. She’s also a director of New & Lingwood, a luxury menswear label.
However, it’s her 0.9% stake in Infosys, her father’s business, where the majority of her wealth comes from, which is valued at roughly £690m – a figure which is said to make her richer than King Charles III.