Rishi Sunak has become the UK’s new prime minister after a rapid leadership contest saw him elevated to the top office less than a week after predecessor Liz Truss resigned.
The former chancellor and investment banker becomes the first PM of color in British history and the youngest for more than 200 years.
Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, is the wealthy daughter of an Indian billionaire and has already found herself embroidered in political controversy over her tax affairs. Yahoo News UK profiles her and how the couple acquired their immense wealth.
Who is Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty?
Murty, 42, was born in Hubli, to Indian tech billionaire Narayana Murthy who founded the IT company Infosys; the company is now estimated to be worth around £67.6bn.
Read more: The video which shows the big problem facing Rishi Sunak
Time magazine has described him as the “father” of India’s IT sector, with an estimated net worth of around £4bn.
Murty studied at Baldwin Girls’ High School in Bangalore, India and then moved to California where she studied economics and French at Claremont McKenna College.
She later attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising before heading to Stanford University where she gained a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
It was at Stanford where she met Sunak, who was there on a Fulbright scholarship.
Sunak and Murty married in her hometown of Bengaluru in 2009, and have two children – Anoushka and Krishna.
The pair have four homes including a £1.5m mansion in Sunak’s constituency of Richmond (Yorkshire), a £6.6m townhouse in Kensington, London, and a home in Santa Monica, California, which has an estimated value of £5.5m.
What’s her net worth and how did she make her wealth?
In 2007, she worked as a marketing director at clean tech company Tendris before starting her own fashion company which closed in 2012.
After the closure of her fashion company, she became the director of Catamaran Ventures, an Indian venture capital fund, where she co-founded the London branch with Sunak – which is owned by her father.
Murty owns a 0.91% share of her father’s technology company, Infosys, worth around £615m as of October 2022.
The business woman also owns shares in Jamie Oliver’s restaurant businesses, as well as Wendy’s, Koro Kids, and is director of Digme fitness.
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According to the Bloomberg, Murty has a total net worth of £1.06bn.
However, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2022, Sunak and Murty’s combined net worth at £730m – making the incoming prime minister the wealthiest MP in parliament.
Why was has Murty been criticised?
Murty came under intense scrutiny in April 2022 after it emerged she was registered as a non-domiciled resident of the UK which could have enabled her to avoid millions of pounds in tax.
After intense political pressure and backlash from the public, Murty announced she was changing her tax arrangements.
“I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family,” she said in April.
“For this reason, I will no longer be claiming the remittance basis for tax.”
Murty has also come under criticism after it emerged. Infosys was still operating in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Watch: Who is Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty – and why are her family so wealthy?