Rishi Sunak was formally announced as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Tuesday and earlier on Monday he was declared the chief of the Conservative Party. He is also the youngest-ever Prime Minister to lead the UK and the first Hindu Prime Minister and also the wealthiest to occupy 10, Downing Street.
UK First Lady Akshata Murthy’s business ventures and investments also play a role in putting the first billionaire family atop British politics. Akshata Murthy’s investments span a luxury furniture marketplace to an outfitter for students of Eton College among several other such investments, Bloomberg News said in a report.
Murthy is an Indian citizen and due to her stake in Infosys Ltd, the software giant founded by her father NR Narayana Murthy, her net worth is about $1 billion.
It is larger than the $400 million fortune belonging to the late English queen Elizabeth II. It was Charles III, English king and her son, who formally appointed Sunak as prime minister on Tuesday.
Murthy’s wealth has been a cause for political problems for her husband. When Sunak was competing against Liz Truss during the September leadership race, Murthy was accused of not paying local taxes on oversease income and her “non-domiciled” tax status in the UK.
But soon after the allegations were levelled against her, Murthy paid her taxes and said her business initiatives and wealth should not act as a barrier for her husband. Murthy was also criticised for giving tea to journalists in teacups which were expensive at a time when the UK is experiencing a cost-of-living crisis.
As the UK faces economic challenges, which the UK PM himself acknowledged, their wealth will remain in the spotlight.
Murthy’s association with some of the world’s richest families via her investment firm, Catamaran Ventures UK is also likely to put UK’s first family in the crosshairs of the opposition.
Murthy was also an early backer of dara5. Dara5 was described as a private investment community for ‘next generation of global leaders’ which was founded in 2019 by a member of the Al-Thani family, which rules Qatar.
Catamaran, according to Bloomberg, has a stake in luxury British furniture marketplace the New Craftsmen. The New Craftsmen’s shareholders include Rupert Murdoch’s oldest daughter, Prudence, and the Al Tajir family, the Emirati owners of the Park Tower hotel in London’s Knightsbridge, Bloomberg reported.
Murthy is also involved directly with New & Lingwood, an outfitter for students of England’s prestigious Eton College and was its director in 2017. Eton is a prestigious school and charges exorbitant fees. She stepped down in February from the role.
Catamaran Ventures is based in Bengaluru and has 15 employees in India who oversee holdings which are worth more than $1 billion spanning across e-sports, insurance and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
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