New Delhi: A recent report has revealed that Akshata Murthy, the Indian wife of British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and daughter of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, is richer than Queen Elizabeth I.
Sunak, who was once projected as a future prime minister, has seen declining popularity due to rising consumer prices amid recent reports that Murthy’s overseas earnings have been shielded from British tax authorities.
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The couple, who married in 2009 in a relatively modest relationship, knew each other since their education days at Stanford University in the United States. Akshata was pursuing an MBA, while the future Chancellor of the Exchequer was a Fulbright Scholar, who already had an Oxford degree.
According to the company’s disclosure to the stock exchange, the 42-year-old daughter of the Indian tech tycoon holds shares worth nearly one billion dollars in Infosys, according to an AFP report. This makes him richer than Queen Elizabeth, whose personal net worth is around £350 million ($460 million), according to the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List, an AFP report cited.
The couple own at least four properties, including a £7 million ($9 million) five-bedroom home in upscale Kensington, London, and a flat in Santa Monica, California. Akshata continues to be a director of venture capital company Catamaran Ventures, which the couple founded in 2013.
On tax evasion, it said this week that she is “treated as a non-resident for UK tax purposes”, meaning the return from her Infosys stake is only liable for taxation outside the UK.
Sunak told The Sun newspaper for Friday’s edition that “it’s horrible to smear my wife to get me”. “It would not be fair or proper to ask him to break ties with his country because he is married to me,” he said.