International Women's Day 2018: How 5 richest Indian women made their money

Savitri Jindal is the richest Indian woman and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the wealthiest female entrepreneur of the country

Forbes magazine came out with its annual list of billionaires on Tuesday. The list features eight Indian women and nineteen billionaires from the country in all. On International Women's day, let's take a look at how the wealthiest Indian women have made their money. The list is in decreasing order of their wealth.

1. Savitri Jindal- the richest Indian mother, $8.8 billion: Savitri Jindal is the matriarch of the Jindal group. Though the company was divided among her four sons after the death of O P Jindal, she has been the group's Chairman since 2005. Under Mrs Jindal's leadership, the mining-to-oil conglomerate's revenues have more than quadrupled in the last decade. 

2. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- India's garage entrepreneur, $3.6 billion: Shaw, the Chairperson and MD of Biocon, is the richest Indian woman entrepreneur. She was born in a Gujarati family and wanted to become a brewmaster like her father, who worked at United Breweries. However, she failed to realise her dream and ''accidentally'' started Biocon in her garage in 1979. Funding was a problem: no bank wanted to lend to her, and some requested that her father be a guarantor. However, she braved all the odds to transform the firm from an enzyme maker to a pharma major with the philosophy of ''affordable innovation".The Biocon founder was also listed as the 85th most powerful woman in the world in 2005.

3. Smita Crishna-Godrej, $2.9 billion: Smita inherited a fifth of the storied Godrej family's assets. She had been in the news for acquiring India's atomic energy pioneer Homi Bhaba's bungalow in South Mumbai. 

4. Leena Tewari- the shy baroness, $2.4 billion: Tewari chairs the privately held USV India, which her late father Vithal Gandhi set up with Revlon in 1961. USV is a pharmaceutical major with focussing on diabetes and cardiovascular fields in India. She has a BCom from Bombay University and a Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

5. Vinod Rai Gupta, $2.1 billion:  Mother and son Vinod and Anil Rai Gupta draw their fortune from a 43% holding in flagship Havells India.The company, which is run by Anil, makes everything from electrical and lighting fixtures to fans, refrigerators and washing machines.Havells was founded by Vinod's late husband Qimat Rai Gupta in 1958 as an electricals trading business. The company has 12 factories and a presence in 40 countries.

 

Notable mention: 

Sheela Gautam, who set up Sheela Foam in 1971, best known for its Sleepwell brand of mattresses, was ranked at the 1,999th place in the Forbes list with $1.1 billion. Gautam founded Sheela Foam in 1971 and has been actively involved in growing the organisation for two decades. A prominent figure in Indian Politics, she was elected to the Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), for four consecutive terms.

Source: Forbes billionaires list 2018