Seven Indian-Americans in Forbes’ list of wealthiest people in US

Jay Chaudhry, CEO of cybersecurity firm ZScaler, has been named the richest Indian American in the rankings for 2020 released by Forbes magazine

Sixty-one-year-old Jay Chaudhry, CEO of cybersecurity firm ZScaler, has been named the richest Indian American in the rankings for 2020 released by Forbes magazine, which goes on to list six other Persons of Indian Origin amongst the 400 richest persons in the United States.

Interestingly, none of the high-profile CEOs of BigTech firms such as Sundar Pichai of Google or Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM finds a place in the much-vaunted list that had also listed seven Indian Americans in its 2019 edition.

Over four million strong now, the Indian diaspora in America has seen its size increase by about 40 pc between 2011 and 2019. The United States is also the favourite destination for Indian migrants followed by the Persian Gulf country, United Arab Emirates that counts for 3.5 million PIOs.

Indian Americans who make up one per cent of the total population of US are the richest ethnic group in terms of wealth, most of which comes from their presence in the Silicon Valley where they own a third of all start-ups and about eight per cent of all high-technology firms in the US have been founded by PIOs.

Amazon CEO  Jeff Bezos tops the list of 400 for a third consecutive year with anet worth of USD 179 billion. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Cofounder Bill Gates remained on the second position with a net worth of USD 111 billion. US President Donald Trump slipped 80 places in the year, falling from 259 to 339 on the 2020 list with a net worth of USD 2.5 billion. Tesla’s maverick founder Elon Musk has had one of the sharpest rises in wealth, jumping from 31 in 2019 to 5 in 2020 list.

Here is the list of seven richest Indian Americans who saw their wealth swell despite the Covid-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on the economy and made it into the Forbes’ list of wealthiest people in the US.

Jay Chaudhary, Net worth USD 6.9 billion

Jay Chaudhry, 61, the CEO of cybersecurity firm ZScaler, is ranked 85th on the list with a net worth of USD 6.9 billion. Chaudhary was born in Kalimpong district of West Bengal. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh, he completed his masters and MBA at the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, Unites States.

Chaudhary founded ZScaler in 2008 and the company went public in March 2018. Forbes also mentioned that in 1996, Chaudhry and his wife, Jyoti, both quit their jobs and put their life savings to start cybersecurity firm SecureIT, his first startup.

Romesh Wadhwani, Net worth USD 3.4 billion

ROmesh Wadhwani was born in a Sindhi household, in year 1947 in Karach

Romesh Wadhwani, 73, has been ranked 238th on the list and has a net worth of USD 3.4 billion. He was born in a Sindhi household, before the partition, in the year 1947 in Karach (now in Pakistan). His Symphony Technology Group brings in USD 2.5 billion in annual revenues. Wadhwani combined nine of his companies that were AI-focused into a new group called SymphonyAI in 2017, Forbes said.

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Carnegie Mellon, Wadhwani founded Aspect Development, which i2 Technologies acquired for USD 9.3 billion in stock in 1999. Romesh and his brother, Sunil, founded the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Mumbai in 2018, committing over USD 30 million.

Niraj Shah, Net worth USD 2.8 billion

Niraj Shah, born in an Indian-American family, grew up in Massachusetts

On the 299th spot is Niraj Shah, 46, who has a net worth of USD 2.8 billion. A Cornell University graduate engineer, Shah was born in 1973 in an Indian American immigrant family and grew up in Massachusetts.

He founded Wayfair, an e-commerce business in 2002 along with Steve Conine, who is also a billionaire now. Wayfair, which now offers more than 18 million products, generated USD 9.1 billion in net revenue in 2019, up 35 per cent from the previous year, Forbes said.

Vinod Khosla, Net worth USD 2.4 billion

Vinod Khosla is an Khosla is an alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Vinod Khosla, 65 is ranked 353rd with a net worth of USD 2.4 billion. Born and brought up in New Delhi, India, Khosla is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Khosla co-founded computer hardware firm Sun Microsystems in 1982 and spent 18 years at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers before launching his own fund. In June 2019, Khosla said he believes artificial intelligence could replace traditional industries such as radiology and music, Forbes added.

Kavitark Ram Sriram, Net worth USD 2.3 billion

Sriram has a net worth of USD 2.3 billion

Managing Partner of SherpaloVentures, Kavitark Ram Shriram secured the 359th spot. Shriram, 63, has a net worth of USD 2.3 billion. Shriram has sold off most of his stock but remains on the board of its parent company, Alphabet.

Born in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state in India, Shriram studied mathematics at the University of Madras. His portfolio includes online invitation service Paperless Post, online HR service provider Gusto and mobile advertising company InMobi.

Rakesh Gangwal, Net worth USD 2.3 billion

Gangwal cofounded IndiGo, headquartered outside Delhi with just one aircraft

Another person on the same rank is Rakesh Gangwal, 67, with a net worth of USD 2.3 billion. Born in an Indian Jain family in 1953, Gangwal studied Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Forbes said Gangwal made his fortune from InterGlobe Aviation, the parent outfit of budget airline IndiGo, India’s largest by market share. Gangwal cofounded IndiGo, headquartered outside Delhi, with Rahul Bhatia in 2006 with just one aircraft.

Aneel Bhusri, Net worth USD 2.3 billion

Aneel Bhusri Bhusri has been on the Forbes Midas List six times since 2008

Sharing the 359th rank with Sriram and Gangwal, Aneel Bhusri has a net worth of USD 2.3 billion. Bhusri was born in Pittsburg, New York in 1966. He studied electrical engineering at Brown University and earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Currently, Bhusri is the CEO of business software firm Workday, which he co-founded with Dave Duffield, the founder of PeopleSoft.

Bhusri started his career in the early 1990s at business software firm PeopleSoft, where he rose to become vice-chairman. Bhusri has been on the Forbes Midas List six times since 2008 and in May 2018, Bhusri joined the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthiest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy, Forbes said.