Meet one of richest woman in world, an Indian, who started her own business leaving Ratan Tata’s TCS, her husband is…, her net worth is…
Neerja Sethi is the co-founder of Syntel, a prominent IT consulting and outsourcing company based in the United States. She started her career with Ratan Tata’s Tata TCS. As of 2025, her real-time net worth is more than $1 billion. In Forbes’ list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women she is at rank 27 in 2024. She was ranked 2,692 in the list of the world’s richest individuals.
Syntel was founded in 1980 in Troy, Michigan, with her husband Bharat Desai. Neerja and Bharat started Syntel from their small apartment in Michigan with initial investment of $16,000 (approximately Rs 13,28,000). In the first year, the company generated $30,000 (around Rs 24.90 lakh) in revenue.
In 2018, the company was acquired by the French IT firm Atos SE for $3.4 billion (Rs 28,690 crore). After the acquisition, Neerja earned around $510 million (Rs 4,233 crore) from her stakes in the company. She didn’t continue with Atos after the sale.
Who Is Bharat Desai?
Bharat Desai, Neerja’s husband, is an Indian-American billionaire who co-founded Syntel along with her. He was born in Kenya and raised in India. He did his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at IIT Bombay and later did MBA in Finance from the University of Michigan. In 1976, Bharat moved to the USA and started working as a programmer at TCS.
Bharat’ and Neerja’s shared dream of building their own company and eventually they made Syntel. According to media reports, Bharat’s net worth is $1.63 billion (Rs 13,501 crore and at the 2,111th spot on the billionaire’s list. The couple resides on Fisher Island, Florida, and an American citizenship.
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