Notional Worth, Real Money ; They've Made Millions, Even Billions for Their Shareholders and Themselves. And Here's How (and Where) India's Tech-Billionaires Are Investing Their Money.

Summary

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India's tech-billionaires are more than willing to speak about their companies but ask them about their investments and the responses range from an outright refusal to talk or meet (as was the case with Wipro's Chairman Azim Premji, Mphasis' Chairman Jerry Rao, and Satyam's Chairman Ramalinga Raju) to statements about investing philosophy (Shiv Nadar and Nandan Nilekani). Yet, there is no denying the fact that these men, all rich-from unbelievably-so to fairly-well-off on the scale as the numbers on this page will show- because of their holdings in their companies, some of India's best- known it firms, have money to spare. There's the income they derive from dividend, and some of them are not averse to selling stock and using the proceeds to fund charities or simply diversify their portfolio or both. For instance, when EDs acquired Mphasis earlier this year Rao made Rs 38 crore by selling 1.875 million shares of the 6.4 million he owned then. And Nilekani earned around Rs 70 crore and Rs 320 crore by selling stock during Infosys' first and second sponsored ads issues (in 2003 and 2005) respectively. Selling stock to diversify may not be a bad idea: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates does it and his money, managed by his personal investment manager Michael Larson, has only grown (between 1999 and 2004, for instance, Gates diluted his stake in Microsoft by almost 8 per cent, gave away almost $4 billion a year to charity, yet saw his net worth and that of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grow to $73 billion or Rs 328,500 crore; if he had not sold any stock, his net worth would have fallen from $76 billion to $50 billion). Not all of India's tech-billionaires would agree. Wipro's Premji, for instance, is as conservative with his investments as he is with his spending (only recently did he upgrade his Ford Escort for a Toyota Corolla) and continues to hold a 82 per cent stake in Wipro. Still, there are lessons to be learnt from the investing philosophies of the men who have created more shareholder wealth than anyone would have imagined.

WHERE DOES INDIA'S RICHEST MAN INVEST?

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Notional Worth, Real Money ; They've Made Millions, Even Billions for Their Shareholders and Themselves. And Here's How (and Where) India's Tech-Billionaires Are Investing Their Money.

In equity, but he believes in passive play.

All Bangalore, and most people-in-the-know in other large cities in the country are aware that Azim Premji's personal finances are managed by a former DSP Merrill Lynch pro called Mrunmay Das who, a little Googling reveals, is a former Ranji cricketer (Orissa). The Chairman of Wipro does not like to speak about his personal investments. Nor, understandably, does Das. However, there's enough data available in the public domain-companies have to declare the names of all shareholders who hold more than a one per cent stake- and enough buzz in Bangalore...

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