Who is Narayana Murthy’s son in law?
By Ria Sharma

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy is one of the most respected names in international business.  Mr. Murthy was the face of Infosys and is largely credited for it ethical business practices and transparency and making it such a valuable brand.  Much of his success can be attributed to his highly qualified, intelligent wife Sudha who devotes her energies to charity.

Narayana and Sudha have two children – Rohan and Akshatha.  Their 29-year old daughter Akshatha will be getting married on August 30 to Rishi Sunak whom she met while studying at Stanford University.  Not surprisingly, there is much public interest in what many are labeling as the ‘wedding of the year’.  The news first broke in July with national newspapers like Indian Express picking up the story.  

Soon, the media spotlight turned to the impending nuptials.  Blogger Magesh Khanna reporting on July 21 that “Akshatha is one of India’s most eligible girls. She is one of the largest individual shareholders of Infosys with a 1.41% stake. Her net-worth is currently around Rs 1,600 crore ($320 million). Akshatha, who speaks four languages and describes herself as a global citizen, is passionate about exposing women globally to the opportunities that become available to them when they are empowered.”

India’s No. 1 English newspaper Times of India’s Bangalore section ‘Bangalore Mirror’ had more details on August 21.

“ 
The wedding, to take place on August 30, is at the Leela Palace on the old Airport Road. The daytime affair will have reception following the marriage.

The marriage will be a simple affair and as of now, everything about it has been kept hush-hush. Bangalore Mirror was told by sources that NRN has left special instructions with the hotel to ensure that nobody speaks about the wedding beforehand. It will be an exclusive and simple event. The hotel, which was booked sometime during the beginning of the year, has two banquet halls, the Grand Ballroom and the Royal Ballroom, and together they can accommodate 1,000 people.
“

Akshatha currently works as a senior Associate at US-based clean technology venture capital (VC) fund Siderian Ventures. The Siderian Investment Team website describes their association with Ms. Murthy as

“
Siderian Investment Team
All Siderian team members are currently employed by Tendris, a successful Dutch cleantech incubator fund with a presence in Naarden (Amsterdam) and in San Francisco. For more information on Tendris, please visit www.tendris.com.

Ms. Akshatha Murthy, Senior Associate (Siderian), Marketing Director (Tendris US).
Ms. Murthy combines cleantech marketing talent with analytical skills from her previous work at Deloitte and Unilever. Ms. Murthy holds an MBA from Stanford Business School, speaks four languages and was born and raised in India.
“

So who is Rishi Sunak who is marrying into one of the most respected business/philanthropic families in India?

Sudha was more financially settled when she married Narayana Murthy.  It seems that her daughter has married for love as well.

Techgoss had learnt that Rishi Sunak is a British citizen who completed his BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford in 2001.  A bright student but not hailing from an ultra rich family, Rishi was sponsored to study at Stanford, USA. The Fulbright Foundation accounts report ending September 2004 and registered with the Charity Commission UK shows that in 2004,  three sponsors - Apax, British Friends of Harvard Business Scholl and McKinsey - each funded a British Student - Rishi Sunak (Stanford),  Gregory Marsh (Harvard) and Chi Lee (Pennsylvania) respectively - to study business administration.

Rishi Sunak joined Goldman Sachs in 2001 as an Analyst and worked his way up to Executive Director, Merchant Banking.  He left Goldman Sachs in 2004 to pursue his MBA from Stanford. Rishi met Ms. Murthy at Stanford. After graduating from Stanford in 2006, he joined as a partner with TCI, London and had been with them since.

TCI is a London-based investment fund founded in 2003. Apart from working with a number of businesses, it also has a number of charitable organizations like ‘The Children’s Investment Funds’ as its clients.