Shiv Nadar
Source of wealth: Software services
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Biography
Indian IT pioneer Shiv Nadar cofounded HCL in a garage in 1976 to make calculators and microprocessors with five friends.
Today, his $14.5 billion (revenue) HCL Technologies is among India's largest software services providers.
In 2020, he stepped down as chairman of HCL Technologies, handing over the position to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra. He's now chairman emeritus and strategic advisor.
HCL Technologies, which employs over 226,000 people in 60 countries worldwide, hires high school grads and trains them on the job.
In March 2025, Nadar transferred a chunk of shares in his investments companies that hold shares in the listed flagship to his daughter Roshni as part of his succession planning.
Perspective on their fortune
Gold
Everyday luxury
A Shiv Nadar's fortune is equivalent to 180 of gold, but this may be difficult to value, as we don't usually have a handful of gold bars in our piggy bank.
A standard gold ring typically weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18k gold.
Based on today's gold price (not taking into account the jeweler's fee, shipping, or anything else), that gold ring would be worth $556.3
Shiv Nadar could buy 47,875,682 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and a lot of gifts!!
And if the number of rings is difficult to visualize, all these rings would need 9 trucks to transport them, But we can be almost certain that Shiv Nadar will have enough left over to pay for the gas for those trucks.
Health
The price of life
Let's compare Shiv Nadar's fortune with the healthcare spending of a huge country
Shiv Nadar could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo with a population of over 105,800,000 of inhabitants for approximately 12.0 years.
But even if we compare their fortune to that of a rich country
At the other extreme, Shiv Nadar could cover the health expenditure of Luxembourg, considered the world's most heavily invested health system, for 5.3 years
Education
Buying the future
Lowest education spending
Shiv Nadar could assume the entire cost of the education system of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with more than 243,000,000 inhabitants for 7.8 years.
Highest education spending
But not only could he assume the cost of a poor country, Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, Shiv Nadar could pay for it in full for 10.7 years.
Research
The monopoly of progress
Lowest research spending
Shiv Nadar could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with more than 260,000,000 of inhabitants, for 44.8 years.
Highest research spending
But even if we compare the total wealth of Shiv Nadar with Israel, the country that currently invests the most per capita in research in the world, it could assume the total cost of the system for 1.0 years.
Financial Assets
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison