Wealth of next generation of Indian business tycoons rises in market rally

New Delhi, Nov 3: As the record stock market rally continues, the value of shares directly owned by next-generation business leaders at 20 major corporate houses has soared over 18 per cent to Rs 17,000 crore so far in 2014.

This includes value of shares owned by the children of top executives and promoters of the listed blue chips such as Infosys, Cipla, Sun Pharma and the Reliance groups, while excluding the family holdings and equity owned through other entities such as trusts.

Collectively, the value of their holdings has risen by Rs 2,600 crore, or 18.2 per cent, from about Rs 14,000 crore at the end of 2013.

Topping the charts, the children of Infosys founders saw the value of their combined shareholding soar by 14 per cent to Rs 12,200 crore in the first 10 months this year. Total value of their combined shareholding had soared by over 50 per cent to Rs 10,720 crore during 2013.

Among them, Akshata Murthy and Rohan Murty - children of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy - saw the value of their shares topping the Rs 6,500 crore mark. Similarly, the value of shares allotted to former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani's children Nihar and Jahnavi rose to nearly Rs 1,350 crore, according to an analysis of data available on the BSE.

The next-generation of other Infosys co-promoters like Meghana (Kris Gopalakrishnan), Divya and Deeksha (K Dinesh), Shruti and Shreyas (S D Shibulal) saw their holdings rise to Rs 245 crore, Rs. 1,115 crore and Rs 2,978 crore respectively.

The Value of holdings by Wipro chairman Azim Premji's sons - Rishad and Tariq, however, at Rs 53.6 crore saw marginal rise, as shares of the IT major were flat from the end of 2013.

Among other notable winners, Aalok Shanghvi, son of Sun Pharma founder Dilip Shanghvi, and his sister Vidhi's combined holdings rode on the back of an over 46 per cent uptick in the drug maker's stock price to touch about Rs 485 crore. Aalok is senior general manager of international business at the firm.

There has also been robust rise in wealth of children of Cipla's M K Hameid, Kamil and Samina as value of holdings soared by Rs 550 crore. In 2013, gains were marginal. Siblings Kamil, who is chief strategy officer of Cipla, and Samina hold shares worth about Rs 1,390 crore.

Sons of Wockhardt promoter Habil Khorakiwala - Murtaza (managing director) and Huzaifa (executive director) - saw a 75 per cent increase in holdings at Rs 34 crore.

PTI