In association with
In a time when divisions often make headlines,
the Global Unity Dinner is a beacon for collective
action. It aims to remind everyone that unity and
peace aren’t mere ideals but achievable goals
requiring active contribution from individuals
and communities alike. By creating a platform
for dialogue among people from diverse walks of
life, the event aspires to break down the walls of
prejudice and misunderstanding that separate us.
Why not join us at
the next GUD to help us
celebrate diversity and
unity in London, England?
www.regent.global
Upcoming GUD on Wednesday 03/07/2024 in London
The Global Unity Dinner (GUD) is an annual event
spearheaded by Regent Group, an organisation
at the intersection of technology, education,
and investment management. However, the
event’s purpose stretches beyond the realms of
academia and business, serving as a focal point
for encouraging unity, peace, and understanding
across different nations and communities.
In association with
Founder and
Editor-in-chief
Ramniklal Solanki CBE
1931-2020
Managing Editor
Kalpesh R Solanki
Executive Editor
Shailesh R Solanki
Chief Operating Officer
Aditya Solanki
EDITORIAL
Contributors
Amit Roy
Barnie Choudhury
Sailesh Ram
Sarwar Alam
Kiran Paul
Pooja Shrivastava
Vishnu Rageev R
Shubham Ghosh
Pramod Thomas
Dineshwori Longjam
Shajil Kumar
Copy Editor
Sailesh Ram
Project Manager
Krishna Bhanu
Sub Editor
Sarath Pookkat
Manju Subhash Chandran
Layout Design
Manish Sharma
ADVERTISING
Sales
Jayanti Solanki
Prif Viswanandan
Stanley Daniel
Anandapadmanabhan S
Email: firstname.
Asian Media Group
United Kingdom
Garavi Gujarat House, No 1
Silex Street, London SE1 0DW.
Tel: 020-7928 1234
E-mwail: [email protected]
India
Garavi Gujarat
AMG Business Solutions Pvt Ltd.
909 Gala Empire, Opp. TV Tower
Near Drive In Road, Thaltej
Ahmedabad, 380 052
Tel: +91-79 6549 9233
E-mail: [email protected]
United States of America
Asian Media Group (USA) Inc
2020 Beaver Ruin Road,
Norcross, Atlanta,
GA, 30071-3710.
Tel: +1-770 263 7728
E-mail: [email protected]
Email: firstname.surname@
amg.biz
All content © Garavi Gujarat
Publications Ltd 2024
Copies of the GG2 Power List
(£51) are available from AMG.
To order your copies, call
Saurin Shah on 020-7654 7737.
Contents
18
Glamour
redefined
10
Britain’s power
couple
34
Better
banking
76
Emmy
winner
36
Gentle
inquisitor
95
Power of
knowledge
12
Championing
London
44
Baking
magic
Power List GG2
2024 | GG2 Power List
pladis is home to some of the world’s best tasting and
most loved snacking products. Our diverse
portfolio of snacks is enjoyed in more
than 125 countries and is a
staple in billions of
homes.
pladisglobal.com
Proud sponsors of the Asian
Media Group GG2 Leadership
and Diversity Awards
WELCOME to the 14th annual
GG2 Power List, celebrating
Britain’s 101 most influential
south Asians.
Our list is a veritable mine of
information and analysis on
some of the most outstanding
and influential south Asians in
Britain today.
We know not everyone will
agree with our ranking or even
agree with whom we have on
the list and who we may have
left out.
There are always some very
tough choices and we aim to re-
fresh at least a third of those on
the list each year and showcase
up and coming talent.
The GG2 Power List is the
result of many months of inten-
sive research, analysis and
debate. We consult widely and
extensively about the people
both on this list and
those who didn’t
quite make it.
We fully appre-
ciate the subjec-
tive nature of this
publication and
part of our reason
for publishing it is
to initiate a wider
public debate about
power and influence – espe-
cially as it relates to people of
south Asian heritage living in
Britain.
Alongside our GG2 Leader-
ship & Diversity Awards, we
want to shine a light on success
in Britain – some of these peo-
ple are influential because they
have achieved great things and
from that comes respect, recog-
nition and sometimes acco-
lades that take these individuals
to even higher levels.
These are the successful ones
and in many cases have broken
through significant barriers to
be where they are today.
But for all our success we al-
so have to recognise there is
work to be done.
We have clearly made huge
strides in politics with an Asian
prime minister, an Asian first
minister of Scotland, an Asian
leader of the Labour Party in
Scotland and an Asian mayor
of London.
But the levers of power in
many areas of British life re-
main almost exclusively colour
free. From permanent secretar-
ies, senior judges and military
top brass to editors of national
newspapers, NHS Trusts and
FTSE 250 companies, the Brit-
ish landscape is dominated by
snowy white peaks.
There is considerable talent
in all ethnic communities, but
organisations must do better in
recruiting, retaining and nurtur-
ing this untapped talent pool.
The success of this title illus-
trates our broader and ultimate
purpose. That is to encourage,
inspire and nurture the next
generation of leaders from eth-
nic minority communi-
ties.
Celebrating the
success of our
community and
inspiring the next
generation is one
of the key goals of
this list, inspired by
our dear parents and
founders of AMG, Ram-
niklal Solanki CBE and Par-
vatiben Solanki. And it is with
their blessings and guiding
principles that we continue
their legacy.
Thousands of hours have
been spent in researching, in-
terviewing and deliberating on
all 101 and we are in awe of eve-
ry single one here and com-
mend the achievements which
have put them here.
Very simply, there are some
great stories and we hope you
will be inspired by them – as we
have been in compiling them.
It only remains for us to
thank everyone involved in the
process and commend you to
read and enjoy it.
Kalpesh R Solanki,
Group Managing Editor;
Shailesh R Solanki,
Executive Editor
Our panel of experts
The GG2 Power List was extensively researched and
compiled by a team of journalists, with the final
rankings adjudicated by an experienced panel...
Inspiring the next gen
KALPESH R SOLANKI is group managing
editor of the Asian Media Group (AMG). He
graduated with a law degree (LLB Hons)
from Queen Mary College, London, and qual-
ified as a barrister from the Inner Temple.
Kalpesh is responsible for the strategy and
growth of AMG operations over three coun-
tries – America, Britain and India. He sits on
the board of the charity Pratham UK.
SHAILESH R SOLANKI is AMG’s executive
editor. He has 30 years of experience in jour-
nalism, overseeing titles, including Eastern
Eye, Garavi Gujarat, Asian Trader, Pharmacy
Bu siness, Asian Hospitality and the Asian Rich
List. He has a keen interest in diversity and is
vice chair of the thinktank British Future, an
advisor to the Rare Dementia Support charity
and on the board of Pratham UK.
AMIT ROY is one of the most experienced
journalists to have covered the Asian
community. He is the editor-at-large at
Eastern Eye and has also worked as a
foreign correspondent for The Daily
Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sunday
Times and The Sunday Telegraph. Amit has
covered wars all over the world and has
written economic reports on India.
RITHIKA SIDDHARTHA edits Eastern
Eye, the consumer titles published by
AMG. She began her journalism career in
India, working at The Asian Age newspaper
in Bangalore and New Delhi, before moving
to London. She secured exclusive inter-
views with prime ministers David Cameron
and Theresa May ahead of the 2015 and
2017 general elections, respectively.
BARNIE CHOUDHURY is an award-win-
ning journalist who worked for the BBC
for 24 years. He is currently a communica-
tions’ consultant and editor-at-large for
Eastern Eye. Barnie worked for the current
Commonwealth secretary-general as her
director of media and PR, and he was part
of the senior leadership team in several in-
stitutions. He lectures in journalism at the
University of East Anglia.
SARWAR ALAM is the senior reporter on
Eastern Eye newspaper. He writes break-
ing news, investigative features and sport
stories for the newspaper and online. He
has interviewed the likes of Rishi Sunak,
Sadiq Khan, Riz Ahmed and Sachin Ten-
dulkar. He began his career on ITV and
has done stints at Eurosport and ESPN,
where he covered major sporting events.
Power List GG2
2024 | GG2 Power List
Kalpesh (left) and Shailesh Solanki;
(inset below) Ramniklal Solanki CBE
by AMIT ROY
THE 2024 GG2 Power List of the 101 most in-
fluential Asians in the country is best seen as
a celebration of multicultural Britain.
To be sure, there is much talk these days of
increasing racism and Islamophobia and there
may well be a lot of truth in the allegations be-
ing made. Which society is without its dark as-
pects? But there are always two sides to a story.
Many Asians insist that “say what you like
about Britain but it is still the best country in
the world”. It is certainly the case that those fea-
tured on the GG2 Power List have pulled them-
selves up though sheer hard work. But it is as
well to recognise that the seeds of Asian suc-
cess have been planted on fertile British soil.
The people of Britain have shown enormous
goodwill to Asians who have made this country
their home. In any case, the proportion of
Asians who are UK born and bred is increasing
all the time and will probably top 80-90 per
cent within a decade. To them, India (or Paki-
stan) will be a foreign place. People may not be
aware but home nurtured British Asians actors
now usually require voice coaches if asked to
put on “Goodness Gracious Me” accents.
Rishi Sunak tops the Power List for the fourth
year in succession. He did not materialise over-
night as prime minister though his rise has
been unusually quick. He became MP for Rich-
mond in Yorkshire, succeeding the former Tory
leader and foreign secretary, William Hague, in
2015. When Sunak first put himself forward to
the constituency selection committee, he was
up against other candidates who appeared
stronger on paper. But the committee was ap-
parently “blown away” by Sunak’s passion and
presentation. Nor is his ascent to Number 10
an isolated example of Asian achievement in
politics. It is also worth remembering that Su-
nak was picked to be Tory leader by his parlia-
mentary colleagues.
In the last six years, Asians have occupied
the great offices of state. Sunak replaced Sajid
Javid – Sir Sajid Javid now – as chancellor. Javid
had previously been home secretary. He
topped the GG2 Power List in 2015, 2016, 2019
and 2020. Such is the churn in politics, he is
ranked 36th in 2024. Dame Priti Patel (47th this
time) and Suella Braverman (59) have served
as home secretary as well.
In 2014, the GG2 Power List
was topped by the human
rights campaigner Malala
Yousafzai. It was a big moment
when Sadiq Khan was elected
mayor of London. He was
ranked No 1 in 2017 and 2018
and is second this time. Eth-
nicity as a factor is worth not-
ing but with passing time appears to be becom-
ing less and less relevant. Humza Yousaf (13),
First Minister of Scotland, and Anas Sarwar
(39), leader of the Scottish labour party, who
happen to be
Muslims of Pakistani origin, were both elected
to their jobs.
There are several other politicians who could
not be left out. They include the energy secre-
tary, Clare Coutinho (11); Lord Tariq Ahmad
(16), minister of state at the Foreign, Common-
wealth and Development Office (FCDO) and de
facto “minister for India”; and Nusrat Ghani
(27), who is minister of state both at business
and trade, and also investment security at the
cabinet office. Ameet Jogia (87) has been in-
cluded, not because he is the
prospective Tory parliamenta-
ry candidate for Hendon in
north London but because he
is a special adviser to the
prime minister and co-chair of
Conservative Friends of India.
Also on the list are Sri
Prakash Lohia and his son,
Amit (50), who are chairman and vice-chair-
man, respectively, of the Indorama Corpora-
tion. The latter has made a £2m donation “in a
personal capacity” to the Conservative party –
which is possibly the single biggest from an
Asian.
The barrister Marina Wheeler KC, the
daughter of the legendary BBC foreign corre-
spondent, Sir Charles Wheeler, and a Sikh
mother, Dip Singh, has “no fixed political
allegiances” but is helping the Labour party put
together a Green Paper on how to help women
deal more effectively with workplace harass-
ment. Her mother was affected by the partition
of India.
“I have always, unambiguously, loved my In-
dian family,” Wheeler has written in her book,
The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and
the Punjab.
There is also Labour representation on the
GG2 Power List: Shabana Mahmood (20), the
shadow justice secretary; Lord Waheed Alli
(60), who has been charged with general
election fundraising; Ravinder Athwal (67), the
The best of Britain
Seeds of Asian success have been planted on fertile British soil
GG2 Power List
GG2 Power List | 2024
It is still the
best country in
the world
POSITIVE IMPACT: Rishi Sunak
and Akshata Murty; (right) Indhu
Rubasingham
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 0345 607 5555
VISIT WWW.ROYALNAVY.MOD.UK/CAREERS
Over 100 career paths to
choose from, including
Medical, Engineering
and Logistics.
With all roles, you will get:
▶
Life-long learning
▶
Travel around the world
▶
Free medical and dental care
▶
Six weeks’ paid holiday every year
▶
An excellent non-contributory
pension scheme
ROYAL NAVY
PROUD SPONSOR OF THE GG2 SPIRIT IN THE COMMUNITY AWARD
party’s head of economic policy who has
responsibility for compiling a crucially
important document – the general election
manifesto; and Seema Malhotra (96), shadow
minister for skills.
One of the journalists who merited entry is
the deputy political editor at ITV News, Anush-
ka Asthana (65), who attracted favourable at-
tention with her documentaries on the prime
minister and the Labour leader, Sir Keith
Starmer. It says something for multicultural
Britain that an Asian woman journalist is able
to grill an Asian prime minister on TV, or a for-
mer Tory home secretary (Suella Braverman)
can suggest Sunak is rubbish at his job and
should be replaced by someone on the far
right. There are no marks for guessing who that
someone should be.
The Power List is intended to be a snapshot
of who has done what over the past 12 months.
About 25-30 per cent of the names are replaced
by new ones from one year to the next.
There are 39 women on the list this time,
compared with 32 last year, although some are
bracketed, usually for reasons of space, with
family members. Akshata Murty probably
deserves to get a separate entry but has been
bracketed with her husband, Sunak.
Of the 22 new entries, two are worth picking
out for special mention. One is the appoint-
ment of Sri Lankan origin Indhu Rubhasing-
ham (10) as director of the National Theatre. It
is a post previously occupied by such theatrical
legends as Laurence Olivier, Peter Hall and
Trevor Nunn. One place above her is Samir
Shah (9), the new chairman of the BBC, an or-
ganisation which is unique in its ability to
shape Britain and indeed how the country is
viewed around the world.
In the Civil Service, there are currently no
Asian permanent secretaries. But there are
people in senior jobs, among them Kunal Patel
(41), deputy principal private secretary to the
prime minister, and Kumar Iyer (70), director
general for economics, science and technology
at the FCDO.
In the financial and corporate world, it is
worth taking particular note of Lord Jitesh Ga-
dhia’s (4) appointment as a non-executive di-
rector on the Court of the Bank of England,
which is the body responsible for the organisa-
tion. He is trusted by King Charles in his capac-
ity as chairman of the British Asian Trust, a
charity close to the heart of the monarch.
Gadhia has also been trying to act as a “bridge”
between the world of business and parliament,
and also between the UK and India.
In the City, Nikhil Rathi (14) is seeking
greater diversity and sweeping reforms as
chief executive of the Financial Conduct
Authority, where the previous incum-
bent, Andrew Bailey, left to become gov-
ernor of the Bank of England.
Leena Nair (5) is in her third year as
global CEO at Chanel, where the
French luxury fashion house ap-
pears to be doing well financially
with her in charge of it.
When it comes to the banking
world, two names stand out. One
is Vis(was) Raghavan (18), JP
Morgan’s co-head of Global In-
vestment Banking and CEO of
its business in Europe, the Mid-
dle East and Africa. The other is
C S Venkatakrishnan (15),
group chief executive at Bar-
clays.
The UK is still some way
behind America but another big name is Sal-
man Amin (23), CEO at Pladis, the global bis-
cuit and confectionary business with such
households brands as McVitie’s, Jacob’s, Carr’s
and Godiva in its stable. The Bestway group,
represented by Sir Anwar Pervez, his son, Da-
wood Pervez, and his nephew, Lord Zameer
Choudrey (25), is one of Britain’s premier fami-
ly businesses. It has a global workforce of
28,000, including 12,000 in the UK.
In the legal world, Asians, women especially,
have made impressive progress. Sir Rabinder
Singh (3) is a judge in the Court of Appeal.
Dame Bobbie Cheema-Grubb (7) is a high
court judge, as is Pushpinder Saini (28). Anuja
Dhir (31) is an Old Bailey judge, while Kaly
Kaul (81) is a circuit judge who has always
fought for the rights of women, not least in the
legal world. Ayesha Vardag (86) has long been a
high-flying divorce lawyer.
In academia, there is no one more
distinguished than the Cambridge economist,
Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta (12), who is turning
his landmark report, The Economics of
Diversity: The Dasgupta Review, into a popular
book, We and the World Around Us. This will
be published in many overseas territories, in
English (and in translation), by Penguin
Random House.
A historian who has inspired PhD students
from all over the world is Joya Chatterji (74),
emeritus professor in the history of modern
south Asia at Cambridge University and a fel-
low of Trinity College. She is the author of
Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth
Century, which William Dalrymple picked out
as “one of my books of the year”.
They can be called the tip of the iceberg be-
cause British universities have hundreds of
academics of Asian origin. The
medical word, too, especially
the NHS, simply could not do
without its Asian doctors and
consultants, as was obvious
during the pandemic.
Those working in the inter-
face between pure science and
medical research include a
number of brilliant people. They include Sir
Shankar Balasubramanian (34), Herchel
Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at
Cambridge, who is researching targeted
treatment for cancer; Adar Poonawalla
(44), CEO of the Serum Institute of India,
which has collaborated with Oxford Uni-
versity to develop what looks like be-
ing an effective vaccine for malaria;
and Prof Sir Venkatraman (“Ven-
ki”) Ramakrishnan, who shared
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
with two others in 2009 for his
work on ribosomes and whose
new book is called, Why We Die:
The New Science of Ageing and
the Quest for Immortality.
Also in this group are Dr Yu-
suf Hamied, the UK-based
chairman of the Indian phar-
ma giant, Cipla; and the
leading cardiologist Prof
Jaspal Kooner, who is seek-
ing to resolve the mystery of why Asians are
prone to heart attacks, diabetes and kidney dis-
ease with a view to finding possible treatment.
There has been a diversity dividend in the
arts. The multimedia artist Chila Burman (77)
has been shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth in
Trafalgar Square. Tanika Gupta (76) is now an
established playwright – her works included
The Empress – who has created scores of jobs
for Asians (and others) both on and off stage.
AA Dhand (76) is a crime writer, whose novel,
City of Sinners, “set in the dark and mean
streets of Bradford”, is currently being turned
into a six-part TV series by the BBC. It will have
mainly Asian characters. Dhand has also writ-
ten the screenplay. And the 28-year-old ac-
tress, Ambika Mod, who was
previously doing bit parts, has
been catapulted to interna-
tional stardom by being cast as
“Emma Morley” in the Netflix
romantic drama, One Day.
It is a big moment to have a
British Asian prime minister as
No 1 once again on the GG2
Power List. He wasn’t actually born to wealth,
which is why he has pointed out his story is
similar to that of thousands of other Asians in
the UK.
There will be passing controversies about rac-
ism – such as that of Lee Anderson – but Sunak
has said: “My story is a British story. A story about
how a family can go from arriving here with little
to Downing Street in three generations.”
He recalled: “One American magazine even
sent a reporter to Yorkshire to write about how
‘a candidate of the wrong race [could] cost the
Tories one of the safest seats in England?’ But
they should not have projected their own prej-
udices onto our country. The people of North
Yorkshire were not interested in my colour, but
my character. I am proud to be the first British
Asian prime minister, but you know what, I’m
even prouder that it’s just not a big deal.”
It is always possible to be negative. But GG2
Power List is also an indication that there isn’t
a country as harmoniously multicultural as
Britain anywhere else in the world.
GG2 Power List
GG2 Power List | 2024
I’m even
prouder that it’s
not a big deal
Ambika Mod
Leena Nair
Prof Sir Shankar
Balasubramanian
Marina Wheeler
For everyone,
Nature, beauty, history.
for ever.
©National Trust 2024. Registered charity number 205846.
©National Trust Images/Chris Lacey
nationaltrust.org.uk
Proud to be supporting
the GG2 Embrace Award.
Rishi Sunak & Akshata Murty
Politics
BRITAIN’s first prime minister of colour Rishi
Sunak is a self-confessed geek and wasn’t very
naughty at school.
He admitted as much to ITV’s Anuskha
Asthana (see list no. 65) in a much more up close
and personal interview than he usually does.
Screened earlier this year, she called him an
“overachiever” in her written profile piece in
the Times – any self-respecting Asian parent
would tell you there is no such thing!
And the bar is very high now for any ambi-
tious south Asian youngster – you can’t get
above the prime minister – unless you, per-
haps, marry into the Royal Family.
More seriously, Asthana is right – head boy at
Winchester, one of Britain’s most venerated
public schools, first-class degree from Oxford,
Fulbright scholar to Stanford in the US, a popu-
lar chancellor during Covid (when he created
the furlough scheme) and now prime minister
and any south Asian following in those illustri-
ous political footsteps will only (always) be No 2
now.
So what sort of man is Rishi Sunak – espe-
cially away from the rough tumble of politics
and the pressures of leading a country?
A geek – his attention to detail is well docu-
mented. He reads and absorbs everything and
often asks for more than he is given and is
extremely diligent and hardworking.
No doubt these are qualities most British
south Asian households espouse – the refrain
being that you have to work twice as hard as
someone from a majority background to get to
even the same place.
All the while, Sunak had his eyes on the top
post – elected to parliament in 2015 for the con-
stituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire.
Many tipped him for the top but perhaps
didn’t see how quickly it would all happen as
some parts of the Conservative Party pressed
the self-destruct button and didn’t deign to
look back. He has already surpassed Liz Truss
in number of days in office – and if he goes to
the polls later this year, he can say quite confi-
dently that he brought purpose and calm to the
government and signed a major agreement
with the EU (the Windsor Framework) and
brought squabbling MPs in Northern Ireland
back to Stormont and representative govern-
ment. Those are not bad achievements. Of his
five pledges, we have heard a little less this year
and we shall come to that.
Asthana put him on the spot in her pro-
gramme, saying he must have dreamt of being
prime minister – some at Oxford claimed he
had talked of such, but his reaction to Asthana
was natural and interesting.
“No,” he said quickly – “because you didn’t
have role models like that.” He saw newscasters
in the mould of Sir Trevor McDonald and Moi-
ra Stewart break through in the media, but as
far as politics went there was no one like him –
it was only in 1987 that Keith Vaz entered par-
liament along with Diane Abbot, Paul Boateng
and Bernie Grant representing the first ethnic
MPs to enter the Commons in the modern era.
No one got into government until quite a lot
later.
Growing up in Southampton, Sunak was
acutely aware of racism and prejudice. He ad-
mitted to facing such when he was a kid at
school and then in a fast-food joint when his
younger siblings were abused. “It hurts in a way
that other things don’t,” he said powerfully of
the racism they suffered on ITV.
His parents – his father is a GP and his moth-
er a pharmacist – were keen their children got
on and made the most of opportunities.
Almost all immigrants have an innate under-
standing of this underlying - and sometimes
overwhelming impulse – you uproot yourself
for the betterment of your children – even if it
causes you pain and suffering, on a personal
level.
Whatever slights and anger (and some-
times even violence) you have to endure,
your children will not experience the
same: they will achieve your dreams.
Sending him to Winchester required
sacrifice and toil – his parents took out
loans and worked extra hours to afford the
fees which today are around £37,000 a year
for a day pupil; (and borders pay nearly
£50,000). Many Asian households still
put a premium on educa-
tion and attaining qual-
ifications and entering
a stable profession
like medicine, the
law or accountan-
cy. Immigrants
wherever they
are value stabili-
ty.
When Sunak
was presented
with the GG2
Hammer
Award at the
GG2 Leader-
ship & Di-
versity
Awards
last year,
he joked
that it
made up
for the fact
that his par-
ents really
wanted him
to be a doc-
tor.
At Oxford
University,
he was studi-
ous and im-
peccably be-
haved – unlike some
of his fellow Conserva-
tive colleagues. He had
an internship with the
party while he studied
at Oxford.
From there, he got
straight into work and
was employed by US
bank and trading house, Goldman Sachs.
In 2004, he decided to pursue an MBA at
Stanford University in California and was a Ful-
bright scholar.
It was here that he was to meet Akshata
Murty who was also studying at Stanford. It
isn’t clear whether they hit it off from the very
beginning or how much young Rishi knew
about Akshata – famously, she is the heiress of
one of India’s richest and most brilliant men.
Her father Narayana is behind the Indian glob-
al tech giant that is Infosys. She has a share in
the company and is widely reported to be a bil-
lionaire in her own right. Her parents are cele-
brated figures in India – her mother
Sudha is an author and broke
barriers as a young engineer-
ing graduate who worked ini-
tially on the shop floor and
was one of the first women
to do so in the 1970s in In-
dia. The couple’s early trials
and tribulations are con-
tained within a new best-sell-
ing book, Uncommon Love:
The Early Life of Sudha and
Naryana Murthy by Chitra Ba-
nerjee Divakaruni and what
emerges is how driven Akshata’s
mother was – it was she who
provided the seed capital
for Narayana to start
Infosys.
So, Akshata
comes from a
hugely successful
and wealthy family
and she too has
ventured into
business creating a
fashion label and
heading up the
family’s UK wealth
office at one time.
The couple set-
tled in California
after graduating
and he became a
millionaire in-
vestment man-
ager before
moving into
hedge fund
management.
He worked for
the Conserva-
tive Party just
before being
elected to
parliament
on their re-
turn to the
UK.
Some in
his close
circle see
Akshata as an
asset – always su-
perbly turned out
and supportive,
they think she
GG2 Power List
10
GG2 Power List | 2024
First amongst equals
Prime minister battles to navigate tough political landscape
UNDER PRESSURE:
Rishi Sunak