Akshata Murty

Akshata Narayana Murty (born 25 April 1980) is an Indian heiress, businesswoman, fashion designer, and venture capitalist. She is married to former prime minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak and is the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy, a founder of the Indian multinational IT company Infosys, and Sudha Murty. She holds a 0.93 percent stake in Infosys, along with shares in several other British businesses.

Since 2009, she has been married to Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet, as well as Leader of the Opposition from July to November 2024. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Murty and Sunak hold the 245th rank for the richest people in Britain , with a combined wealth of £651 million (US$827 million). In 2022, her personal wealth became the topic of British media discussion in the context of her claim of non-domiciled status, an arrangement seen as benefiting the "super rich." Murty later voluntarily renounced the fiscal benefits from her non-domiciled status. Her mother was the first female engineer to work for the TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company, then India's largest car maker, and later became a philanthropist. and they were brought up in Jayanagar, a neighbourhood in the Southern part of India's Silicon Valley and Financial Technology Capital, Bengaluru. Her maternal grandparents were R. H. Kulkarni, a surgeon, and his wife Vimala Kulkarni, a school teacher.

In the 1990s, Murty attended Baldwin Girls' High School in Bengaluru, and in 1998 studied Economics and French at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. She has a Diploma in clothes manufacturing from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, Her fashion label closed in 2012.

In 2013, she became the director of venture capital fund Catamaran Ventures. Sunak transferred his shares to her shortly before being elected as the Conservative MP for Richmond in 2015. Since 2015, she has owned a 0.91% , Murthy was a director at Digme Fitness, and also Soroco, the digital transformation company that her brother Rohan Murty co-founded.

Personal life

Murty is an Indian citizen. She speaks English, Hindi, Kannada and French. In August 2009, Murty married Rishi Sunak, whom she met in 2004 at Stanford University. In April 2022, it was reported that Sunak and Murty had moved out of 11 Downing Street to a newly refurbished West London home.

In April 2022, Murty's wealth became the focus of British media discussion If Murty pays UK taxes on her worldwide income, but retains her non-domiciliary status, she can benefit from a provision in a 1956 treaty that was designed to help avoid double taxation of Indian citizens in India as well as the UK.