DMart’s Radhakishan Damani tops IDFC FIRST Private Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023 list

IDFC FIRST Private Banking and Hurun India have launched the first edition of ‘IDFC FIRST Private Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023’, a list of the 200 most valuable companies in India founded after the year 2000.

The maiden edition saw DMart’s Radhakishan Damani top the charts with a Market Cap of Rs 238,188 crore followed by Flipkart’s Binny and Sachin Bansal with Rs 119,472 crore and Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal with Rs 86,853 crore.

These companies were ranked according to their value, defined as market capitalisation for listed companies and valuations for non-listed companies. The cut-off date to arrive at this list was September 30, 2023. It is comprised of 405 founders across 200 companies. Some of the interesting findings of the list included that of these 20 companies were run by professional CEOs; 34 percent of the individuals held a graduation degree while 52 percent were post-graduates. A vast majority or 225 of them were Engineers, followed by 10 Chartered Accountants, and 7 Doctors.

Vikas Sharma, Head-Wealth Management & Private Banking, IDFC FIRST Bank said: “The list showcases the immense talent, innovation, and accomplishments of India’s visionary founders, those who are propelling the nation’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to new heights.”

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said: “The IDFC FIRST Private Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023 list demonstrates the vibrance of Indian entrepreneurship across age groups, gender, and geography. One-third of the list is aged under 40 and the eldest on the list is 80 years old. It is interesting to note that Bengaluru occupies the top choice for most of the founders in the list to start their companies – this is in stark contrast to Hurun India Rich List, in which the entrants preferred Mumbai and New Delhi over Bengaluru.”

Key findings of the report

• Eight of the top 10 most valuable companies founded in the millennium are from startups.
• The cumulative value of all companies in the list is Rs 30 lakh crore, which is equivalent to GDP of Denmark.
• The youngest in the list is Kaivalya Vohra of Zepto at 21 years, while Ashok Soota, aged 80 of Happiest Minds is the most experienced.
• The average age of India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023 is 44.
• 38 founders in the list graduated from IIT Delhi, making it the most preferred undergrad college for India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023, followed by IIT Mumbai with 24 and IIT Kharagpur with 20 entrepreneurs.
• 34% of the companies in the list have global operations.
• Financial services and Retail led the way with 46 and 30 companies in India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023, followed by Healthcare with 26 entrants.
• Only one-fourth of the companies featured in India’s top 200 self-made entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023 are listed on the stock exchange.